How to create a mini pond
Even a small pond can be home to an interesting range of wildlife, including damsel and dragonflies, frogs and newts.
Even a small pond can be home to an interesting range of wildlife, including damsel and dragonflies, frogs and newts.
The pincushion-like, lilac-blue flower heads of Devil's-bit scabious attract a wide variety of butterflies and bees. Look for this pretty plant in damp meadows and marshes, and on riverbanks…
As its name suggests, the Dwarf thistle is a low-growing plant that is almost stemless - its purple, thistle-like flower heads growing out of a rosette of spiny leaves.
As its name suggests, the Marsh violet likes damp spots, such as marshes, bogs and wet woods. It is a low-growing plant with kidney-shaped leaves and pale lilac flowers.
Look for the star-like, feathery, white flowers of Bogbean in ponds, fens, bogs and marshes. It is so-named because its leaves look like those of broad beans.
Some cosmetics, soaps, washing-up liquids and cleaning products can be harmful to wildlife with long-lasting effects.
A prickly, tall plant, the Small teasel is closely related to the Common teasel, but has much smaller, more rounded flower heads. It prefers damp, open woodlands.
Often growing in swathes along a roadside or field margin, the oxeye daisy is just as at home in traditional hay meadows. The large, white, daisy-like flowers are easy to identify.
The black-headed gull is actually a chocolate-brown headed gull! And for much of the year, it's head even turns white. Look out for it in large, noisy flocks on a variety of habitats.
The egg-shaped, crimson flower heads of Great burnet give this plant the look of a lollipop! It can be found on floodplain meadows - a declining habitat which is under serious threat.
The carnivorous lifestyle of the round-leaved sundew makes this heathland plant a fascinating species. The round leaves have sticky, 'dew'-covered tendrils that tempt in unsuspecting…
The Marsh helleborine is a beautiful orchid of fens, wet grassland and dune slacks. Growing in profusion in places, look for reddish stems and white-and-pink flowers.