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…
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…
Living up to its name, the bullhead has a characteristically large, flattened head and a tapering body. Look out for it in fast-flowing, stony rivers and streams.
An easily overlooked orchid, the Common twayblade is yellow-green and less showy than other UK orchids. Look for it in woodlands and grasslands on chalky soils, in particular.
Look out for the Daubenton's bat foraging over wetlands across the UK at twilight. Its flight is fast and agile as it skims the water's surface for insect-prey.
The green hairstreak is the UK's only green butterfly. Look out for the vibrant, metallic sheen of the undersides of its wings on grassland and moorland, and along woodland rides.
The greenshank breeds on the boggy moors and ancient peatlands of Scotland. But it can be spotted elsewhere in the UK as it passes through on migration - look around lakes, marshes and the coast…
The attractive roe deer is native to the UK and widespread across woodland, farmland, grassland and heathland habitats. Look for its distinctive pale rump and short antlers.
Look for the wood warbler singing from the canopy of oak woodlands in the north and west of the UK. Green above, it has a distinctive, bright yellow throat and eyestripe.
Carol loves watching the rituals of the birds at Rutland Water, especially at the feeding station that she helps to maintain as a volunteer. She loves to lose herself in her own personal episode…
These winter visitors are close relatives of the chaffinch and can often be found in the same flocks, where their white rump and nasal calls give them away.
A common and stocky bird of our rocky coasts, the rock pipit can nearly always be seen close to the sea. It is a bit smaller than a starling.
Although introduced by the Normans, the fallow deer has been here so long that it is considered naturalised. Look out for groups of white-spotted deer in woodland glades.