How to build a bird box
With natural nesting sites in decline, adding a nestbox to your garden can make all the difference to your local birds.
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Water vole by Terry Whittaker/2020VISION
Chwilio
Ivy
Ivy is one of our most familiar plants, seen climbing up trees, walls, and along the ground, almost anywhere. It is a great provider of food and shelter for all kinds of animals, from butterflies…
Common bird's-foot-trefoil
Common bird's-foot-trefoil has a vareity of names that conjure up some interesting images: 'Eggs and Bacon', for instance! Its small, yellow, slipper-like flowers can be seen in all…
Bird's-nest orchid
The Bird's-nest orchid gets its name from its nest-like tangle of roots. Unlike other green plants, it doesn’t get its energy from sunlight. Instead, it grows as a parasite on tree roots, so…
Wigeon
The wigeon is a colourful duck that can often be spotted wheeling round our winter skies in large flocks. A dabbling duck, it surface-feeds on plants and seeds in shallow waters.
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…
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…
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.
Weird ears
Meet six animals with weird and wonderful ears
Long-eared owl
Unsurprisingly, the nocturnal long-eared owl sports large 'ear tufts' on its head, while the short-eared owl has much smaller ear tufts. A shy bird, it is best spotted around the coast…
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.
Baby bird spotter
Can you tick off any of these?