Lilac
Lilac is an introduced species in the UK that can sometimes be found in hedgerows and along woodland edges. Flower spikes appear in spring, beautifully scented and packed with small, lilac-pink…
Water vole by Terry Whittaker/2020VISION
Lilac is an introduced species in the UK that can sometimes be found in hedgerows and along woodland edges. Flower spikes appear in spring, beautifully scented and packed with small, lilac-pink…
Timothy is a grass of meadows, arable land, waste ground and roadside verges. It is also cultivated as fodder for livestock. Look for slender stems and long, cylindrical flower spikes in summer.…
Wildlife Watcher Chloe lives by the coast in Wales and shares her favourite finds.
Working full time in a windowless room cut Sonja off from the natural world around her; but spending time in wild places has helped her to discover herself since a shock diagnosis two years ago.…
Soft brome is a tall, annual grass of roadside verges, waste ground and meadows, and is a 'weed' of arable land. It has long, grey-green leaves and loosely clustered flower spikes.
The distinctive spiky, or 'bearded', green flower heads of wall barley appear from June to July and are easy to spot in an urban environment as they push their way up through pavements…
When the stresses of life get too much, I take a walk through Attenborough Nature Reserve - a form of free therapy. The fresh air, the bird calls, the beauty of nature surrounding me, is calming.…
As its name suggests, pendulous sedge has drooping form with long, nodding flower spikes that give it an attractive and soft look. It can be found in wet woodlands and along riversides.
Wild marjoram is actually the same aromatic herb as oregano which is used in Mediterranean cooking. Its small, pink flower clusters can be seen on chalk and limestone grasslands in summer.
Always fascinated by wildlife, Sophie has pursued a career in nature conservation through formal education and traineeships.
She now works as an ecologist, working to conserve Herefordshire’…
Great reedmace is familiar to many of us as the archetypal 'bulrush'. Look for its tall stems, sausage-like, brown flower heads and green, flat leaves at the water's edge in our…
Look out for the white, umbrella-like flower heads of lesser water-parsnip along the shallow margins of ditches, ponds, lakes and rivers. When crushed, it does, indeed, smell like parsnip!