The best plants for bees and pollinators
Set up a ‘nectar café’ by planting flowers for pollinating insects like bees and butterflies
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Chwilio
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.
My breath of fresh air
Michael manages Stanley Moss Nature Reserve; he loves the serenity of the area and the different wildlife that he can see. The area was once used for coal mining, and was drained and planted with…
Great burnet
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.
Navelwort
The disc-shaped leaves and straw-coloured flower spikes of Navelwort help to identify this plant. As does its habitat - look for it growing from crevices in rocks, walls and stony areas.
Pheasant
A handsome gamebird, the pheasant is an introduced species that has settled here with little problem. It can be spotted in its farmland and woodland habitats, although you'll probably hear…
Hobby
Look out for the swift-like shape of the hobby as it darts over heathlands and wetlands in summer. They are keen hunters, chasing and catching fast-flying dragonflies and small birds on the wing…
Lowland dry oak and birch wood
Gnarled veteran oaks are interspersed with groves of pale, elegant birches, while swathes of bracken and soft tussocks of wavy hair-grass cover ground from which autumn fungi sprout.…
Mottled grasshopper
The mottled grasshopper can be found in dry grasslands, such as railway cuttings, and heathlands throughout summer. Males can be seen rubbing their legs against their wings to create a 'song…
Slow worm
Despite appearances, the slow worm is actually a legless lizard, not a worm or a snake! Look out for it basking in the sun on heathlands and grasslands, or even in the garden, where it favours…
Reedbed
Found between water and land, reedbeds are transitional habitats. They can form extensive swamps in lowland floodplains or fringe streams, rivers, ditches, ponds and lakes with a thin feathery…
Four-spotted chaser
The four-spotted chaser is easily recognised by the two dark spots on the leading edge of each wing - giving this species its name. It can be seen on heathlands and near ponds and lakes.