Kidney vetch
The small, yellow flowers and woolly appearance of kidney vetch make this plant easy to spot. Look for it growing low to the ground on sand dunes, chalk grasslands and cliffs in summer.
Water vole by Terry Whittaker/2020VISION
The small, yellow flowers and woolly appearance of kidney vetch make this plant easy to spot. Look for it growing low to the ground on sand dunes, chalk grasslands and cliffs in summer.
As its name suggests, Water dock likes damp places, such as the egdes of canals, ponds and rivers. It is a tall plant with large, greenish flower spikes.
Ann and her husband nurture and cultivate specialist sphagnum mosses and vascular plants like bog cranberry for a community area of the moss: they’re kickstarting the vegetation growth on Little…
A late-flowering plant, Autumn gentian displays pretty, mauve, tube-like flowers atop its reddish stems. It favours dry, chalk grassland and sand dune habitats.
The nodding, pink-and-purple-chequered flowers of the snake's-head fritillary are said to resemble a snake, hence the name. Declining with the loss of our meadows, this delicate plant can be…
Duncan helps to manage the pockets of peatland at Bell Crag Flow, near Newcastle. The ancient landscapes that he works on are around 10,000 years old. These sites are great for wildlife but they…
The markings of the peacock are unmistakeable - big, blue 'eyes' just like a peacock's tail feathers. It can be seen feeding on flowers all year-round during warm spells, and…
Fennel has feathery leaves and open, umbels of yellow flowers. It was probably introduced by the Romans for culinary use, and is now a naturalised species of verges, waste ground and sand dunes.…
Horseshoe vetch is a member of the pea family, so displays bright yellow, pea-like flowers and seed pods. Look for this low-growing plant on chalk grasslands from May to July.
The yellow, star-like flowers of bog asphodel brighten up our peat bogs, damp heaths and moors in early summer, attracting a range of pollinating insects.
The drooping, tubular, pink flowers of Common comfrey are a familiar sight to many gardeners. Sometimes considered a 'weed', this hairy plant can be used as an organic fertiliser and a…
A plant of chalk and limestone grasslands and sand dunes, Yellow-wort has butter-yellow flowers. Its distinctive leaves sit opposite each other, but are fused together around the stem.