My opening night
In the drama of the open spaces around her, Emily can play the role of a lifetime. She knows the wildlife of the nature reserve as intimately as Yorick knew Hamlet, and with an audience of birds,…
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Water vole by Terry Whittaker/2020VISION
Chwilio
Purple emperor
The male purple emperor is a stunning butterfly with a brilliant purple sheen. Look for it feeding around the treetops in woodlands, or on damp ground, animal droppings or even carrion in the…
My lifesaver
Wendy has been a regular volunteer bird ringer at Teifi Marsh ever since her son tragically took his own life. Being out in the mornings with the birds gave Wendy a sense of peace and purpose…
My soul food
For Dave, the mosslands are not only a place to watch and record birds, but evoke childhood memories of watching wildlife with his father. Only ten miles away from Greater Manchester, he’s always…
Goldeneye
A medium-sized diving duck, the goldeneye can mainly be spotted in winter when birds fly in from Northern Europe. Conservation efforts have helped small numbers of these birds to nest in Scotland…
Spiny lobster
Spiny lobster, crawfish, crayfish, rock lobsters - many names, one animal! This pretty lobster was made extinct in many areas through overfishing, but is now making a slow comeback.
Red-breasted carrion beetle
These distinctive beetles are often found around dead birds and small mammals.
Wood avens
Look for wood avens along hedgerows and in woodlands. Its yellow flowers appear in spring and provide nectar for insects; later, they turn to red, hooked seedheads that can easily stick to a…
Fast movers
Discover some of the fastest wildlife in the UK!
My dinner party
Niamh loves to feed the birds, so makes natural feeders out of pinecones and berries, to help them through the winter. She’ll tie this to a branch so that the birds can feast from it safely.
My legacy
Aidan is passionate about this wetland oasis which he helped safeguard from development in the 80s. It’s his childhood playground, where he spent many happy days of discovery. Now, he loves…
My regeneration
30 years ago, if Jeremy had fallen in the river then he’d have been more worried about being poisoned than drowned! A 1980s trawl survey found just one fish in the Billingham reach of the Tees,…