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Deborah is Ulster Wildlife’s Nature Reserves Officer. Alongside a team of dedicated volunteers, she works to protect our special places to help both wildlife and people thrive.
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Water vole by Terry Whittaker/2020VISION
Chwilio
My joy ride
After working hard all week, for Cally, there’s nothing better than a gallop along the River Trent at Lady Bay in Nottingham. She shares this wild space with dog walkers, cyclists and other horse…
How to do companion planting
Grow plants that help each other! Maximise your garden for you and for wildlife using this planting technique.
Early purple orchid
The Early purple orchid is one of the first orchids to pop up in spring. Look for its pinkish-purple flowers from April, when bluebells still carpet our woodland floors. Its leaves are dark green…
Freshwater
The rain-soaked lands of Britain and Northern Ireland are rich in rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, canals and ditches. Whether natural or artificial, they are the life-force behind the wildlife we…
Heathland
Heathland is one of our most threatened wildlife habitats: they are wide, open spaces where gorse, bracken, heathers and grasses grow, and birch and pine trees are often dotted around.
Summer
For wildlife watchers summer is when insect life is most abundant. It is the best time to get to know moths, dragonflies, crickets, grasshoppers, beetles and all our other amazing minibeasts!
American mink
Escaped or intentionally freed from fur farms in the 1960s, the American mink is now well established in the UK. Its carnivorous nature is a threat to our native water vole and seabird populations…
Common green shieldbug
The common shieldbug was once restricted to Southern England, but has since been moving northwards and is now quite widespread. It can be found in all kinds of habitats from gardens to farms.
Smooth newt
You are likely to spot the smooth newt in your garden or local pond. It breeds in water in summer and spends the rest of the year in grassland and woodland, hibernating over winter.
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.
At our allotment
Allotments can be great places to see wildlife!