My secret garden
Rowan loves the fresh smell and sight of the buttercups in the wildflower meadows at Besthorpe. It's a special place because there are precious few spots like this where she can spend time…
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Water vole by Terry Whittaker/2020VISION
Chwilio
Golden-bloomed grey longhorn beetle
This beautiful beetle is fond of damp meadows and woodland rides, where it's often found on umbellifers or thistles.
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.
Identify prints in the snow
Spotted animal prints in the snow? Identify the UK wildlife including rabbits, birds and otters whose footprints and tracks you might have seen in the snow.
Violet ground beetle
Violet ground beetles are active predators, coming out at night to hunt slugs and other invertebrates in gardens, woodlands and meadows.
Cowslip
One of our most familiar spring flowers, the cowslip brightens up ancient meadows and woodlands with its egg-yolk-yellow, nodding blooms.
Celery-leaved buttercup
Look out for the small, yellow flowers of Celery-leaved buttercup in wet meadows and at the edges of ponds and ditches. It flowers from May to September.
Crested dog's-tail
Growing in tufts, Crested dog's-tail is a stiff-looking grass, with a tightly packed, rectangular flower spike. Look for it in lowland meadows and grasslands.
Whinchat
The whinchat is a summer visitor to UK heathlands, moorlands and open meadows. It looks similar to the stonechat, but is lighter in colour and has a distinctive pale eyestripe.
Palm oil and why it matters
Palm oil is a type of vegetable oil but sadly a lot of tropical habitat is being destroyed to make it. This means many animals are losing their homes.
Water figwort
Water figwort is a tall plant of riverbanks, pond margins, damp meadows and wet woodlands. Its maroon flowers are pollinated by the Common wasp.