Weird ears
Meet six animals with weird and wonderful ears
Search
Water vole by Terry Whittaker/2020VISION
Chwilio
Knot
A stocky, little sandpiper, the knot can be spotted in estuaries from August onwards, migrating here from the Arctic where it breeds. Look out for it probing the muddy sand with its specialised…
Fulmar
Related to the massive albatross, the fulmar is a gull-like bird that nests on rocky cliff edges. Don't get too close, though - it spits a foul-smelling oil at intruders.
Winter
In winter life can be hard for animals – days are short and for many creatures finding enough food to survive takes up almost every hour of daylight. But there is still plenty of wildlife to spot.
Common evening-primrose
An introduced species, Common evening-primrose is now naturalised on waste ground, roadside verges and railway cuttings. It has long been used to produce the herbal remedy, evening-primrose oil.…
Spring
There is fantastic wildlife to see during spring. Birdsong reaches a peak and many flowers appear, in turn attracting insect-life, including bees and butterflies. Animals that hibernated over winter begin to appear.
Cosy Nests
We know that many animals make nests, not just birds.
Dark-edged bee-fly
Our largest and most common bee-fly, the dark-edged bee-fly looks just like a bumblebee, and buzzes like one too! It feeds on flowers like primroses and violets in gardens, parks and woodlands.…
Common earwig
Despite popular belief, and its name (from the Old English for 'ear beetle'), the Common earwig will not crawl into your ear while you sleep - it much prefers a nice log or stone pile!…
Stone curlew
Stone curlews are unusual waders with large yellow eyes - perfect for hunting beetles at night.
My laboratory
Nora’s study of bird behaviour explores how small bird communities flock together to ward off larger predators. Nature has many things to teach us and is now widely acknowledged as a key…
Common blue damselfly
Living up to its name the Common blue damselfly is both very common and very blue. It regularly visits gardens - try digging a wildlife-friendly pond to attract damselflies and dragonflies.