The small tortoiseshell butterfly can often be found along old railway lines where there are lots of nettles for it to lay its eggs. It hibernates over the winter and can usually be seen flying between March and October.
The Bailey Bridge
Small Tortoiseshell butterfly
Orange tip butterfly
Orange tip butterflies are usually found along hedgerows and in scrubby areas in springtime. Only the males have orange tips on their wings; the females are mainly white.
Common darter
2 Spot Ladybird
Lots of colour variations. Feeds on aphids.
7 Spot Ladybird
Most common ladybird, feeds on aphids, hibernates over winter.
Malachite Beetle
Metallic
14 Spot Ladybird
Eat aphids
Common Red Soldier Beetle
Usually seen on the flowers of cow parsley and other umbelifer flowers.
Marmalade Hoverfly
Daubenton’s Bat
This medium sized bat feeds mainly over water, trawling its feet across the surface to catch insects.
Noctule Bat
Largest of Britains bats. Often roosts in woodpecker holes.
Mole
Moles spend most of their time underground in a complex network of tunnels, some of which may be used by multiple generations.
Brown Rat
A highly adaptable species that has been able to colonise most habitats, including towns and cities.
Stoat
Distinguishable from a weasel by its black tipped tail, stoats are fearsome predators for their size, regularly killing prey much bigger than themselves.
Weasel
Weasels are slightly smaller than a stoat with no black tip on their tail. They feed mainly on small mammals such as mice and voles and their slender shape allows them to fit into their prey’s burrows.
Rabbit
Rabbits were introduced by the Normans in the 1200’s for food and their ability to breed very quickly has allowed them colonise most of Britain. They live in large communal burrows known as warrens.
Grey Squirrel
Grey squirrels were introduced from North America in the 1800’s. Since then they have almost completely wiped out the native red squirrel through a combination of competition and disease.
Mink
Mink are an invasive species and a breeding population established following their escape from fur farms throughout the 1900’s. They are generally blamed for the drastic decline in water vole populations.
Common Toad
Toads spend most of their time away from water, living mainly in damp places but returning to ponds and ditched to breed. They eat mainly invertebrates and are mostly active at night.
Ringlet butterfly
Ringlet butterflies can be seen between June and August, mainly in grassy areas. They can often be seen feeding on the flowers of brambles and are one of the few butterflies that will fly when it’s cloudy.
Speckled Wood
Green veined white
Large skipper butterfly
Large skipper butterflies are active during the summer months and can be found mainly in grassy areas.
Brimstone butterfly
Brimstone butterflies are often the first butterflies to emerge in spring and can be found in a variety of habitats including grassland and scrub. They are also very long lived butterflies and remain active until October.
Small white
Drinker
Distinctive thick snout.
Ghost moth
Distinctive furry head.
Mother of pearl
Can see all four wings when sitting.
Sparrow hawk
Sparrowhawks are one of our smallest birds of prey, the male being somewhere between a blackbird and a collared dove in size. The female is larger, up to the size of a pigeon. Sparrowhawks are excellent bird-hunters, catching small species
Shoveler
A common dabbling duck, particularly during the winter, Shovelers feed by sweeping their broad bills back and forth through the water, filtering out small invertebrates, plant seeds and other plant matter.
Teal
Teal are winter visitors to the UK where they live on freshwater lakes and the surrounding wet grassland, feeding on insects and plants.
Widgeon
Wigeon are winter visitos to the UK, arriving in large flocks to feed on wet grassland.
Mallard
The mallard is a very common species and can be seen all year round, usually near water where it likes to feed on aquatic plants and insects.
Gadwall
A fairly common dabbling duck the Gadwall is only a little smaller than a Mallard. It nests in small numbers in the UK, on freshwater lakes with a lot of vegetation, but can be seen in larger numbers in winter
Tufted Duck
Tufted duck live on freshwater and can be seen all year round. They usually dive to find food including aquatic insects and shellfish.
Black Headed gull
Black-headed gulls are a common species and can be found near freshwater and at the coast throughout the year. They feed mainly on insects but will also scavenge for scraps on rubbish tips. The black head is part of the
Wood pigeon
Our largest and most common pigeon, the woodpigeon is a familiar bird of gardens, parks, woodlands and farmlands right across the country. Its husky ‘hoo-hroo’ call is a well-known sound of the country. Woodpigeons feed on seeds, leaves, grains, fruit,
Carrion crow
The crow that we are most familiar with, the Carrion Crow is all black and makes a hoarse, cawing sound. Carrion Crows make big nests out of twigs, rags, bones, and anything else they can find, which they hide in
Rook
Rooks are large crows that make big nests out of twigs in the top of trees, and gather in large colonies known as ‘rookeries'; they often nest in villages and graveyards, but are also birds of farmland and grassland. The
Jackdaw
Our smallest crow, the Jackdaw is a bird of woodland, parkland, coasts and urban areas. The Jackdaw nests in holes in trees, and on cliffs and buildings: sometimes it will even make a nest in a chimney! It eats invertebrates,
Cuckoo
Cuckoos are migrant birds that usually arrive in April and leave in August. They lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, such as reed warblers, who raise the cuckoo chick as their own. The distinctive call of the
Great Spotted Woodpecker
The great spotted woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker, about the same size as a blackbird. great spotted woodpeckers nest in holes which they excavate in trees in woodlands (mainly broadleaved), large parks and gardens. They have a distinctive, bouncing flight
Little Egret
The Little Egret is a small, white heron which feeds on small fish and crustaceans. Once a very rare visitor from the Mediterranean, Little Egrets are now a common sight around the coasts of southern England and Wales as they
Hobby
The hobby is Britain’s only migratory falcon and it arrives in April to breed in the disused nests of crows. It is an excellent flier and hunts dragonflies and other birds, such as swallows on the wing. It can be
Kestrel
Kestrels are a small bird of prey that can often be seen hovering whilst hunting for small mammals above areas of grassland. They can be seen all year round.
Common sandpiper
The common sandpiper is a smallish wading bird which breeds along fast-moving rivers and near lakes, lochs and reservoirs in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the north of England. Wintering birds may be spotted along the south coast but passage
Golden eye
The male Goldeneye is a handsome diving duck. Apart from a small breeding population in the highlands of Scotland, most Goldeneye only spend the winter in this country, particularly on larger lakes and reservoirs. Goldeneye never really gather in large
Lapwing
Lapwings feed on insects and other invertebrates and can be seen all year round, although greater numbers can be seen in winter. They like areas of wet grassland and breed on bare ground.
Golden Plover
Golden plovers are winter visitors to the UK where they feed on invertebrates on wet grassland and farmland.
Coot
The coot is a very common species and can be seen all year round, usually near water where it likes to feed on aquatic plants and insects. It has a white bill.
Snipe
Snipe are secretive birds that live in muddy lake and river margins and wet grassland. They feed on insects and can be found all year round, except for a few weeks in summer, when they leave to breed.
Moorhen
The moorhen is a very common species and can be seen all year round, usually near water where it likes to feed on aquatic plants and insects. They like to hide in the reeds at the edge of the water
Oystercatcher
Oystercatchers are mainly summer visitors, feeding on insects and shellfish in the mud and meadows around lakes and rivers.
Pheasant
A very familiar gamebird, pheasants are large, colourful and have a long tail. Common in farmland and woodland throughout Britain, the males’ loud, sharp, croaking call can be heard resonating through the countryside before the bird is actually seen. Pheasants
Magpie
Magpies are one of our most familiar birds and the source of much myth and legend – ‘one for sorrow, two for a joy’ is a rhyme that many children learn. Magpies are, in fact, small crows, and are omnivorous,
Green Woodpecker
Green woodpeckers are often seen feeding on ants in grassy areas near to trees. They have a distinct laughing call and can be seen all year round.
Great crested grebe
Great crested grebes are a common species found mainly on freshwater throughout the year. They are excellent divers and feed mainly on small fish and aquatic insects. During the breeding season, the birds stick out their crests and perform an
Water rail
A small relative of the moorhen and coot and about the same size as a redshank, water rails live in reedbeds and freshwater wetlands where they feed on invertebrates and small fish. Secretive and rarely seen they are more often
Common tern
Common terns are summer visitors that can usually be seen swooping over lakes whilst hunting for fish.
Tawny owl
Tawny owls are nocturnal hunters, feeding mainly on small mammals and birds in woodland habitats. They can be seen all year round.
Little Grebe
Grebes are diving waterbirds, feeding on small fish and aquatic invertebrates. The Little Grebe or ‘Dabchick’, as it is sometimes known, is our smallest grebe, about half the size of a Moorhen. Grebes nest on floating platforms made up of
Blackbird
Blackbirds are a very common species and can be seen all year round in a variety of habitats. They feed mainly on insects and berries and are common visitors to gardens.
Song Thrush
The Song thrush is a cousin of the blackbird and can be found in woodlands and scrubby areas all year round. It feeds mainly on insects (particularly snails) and berries and is known for its repetetive song.
Collared dove
Collared doves are small, common pigeons found in farmland, woodland, parks and gardens across the country. Since breeding in the UK was first recorded in the 1950s numbers have increased and the collared dove is now one of the top
Goosander
The goosander is a large duck of rivers and lakes in forested areas. It eats fish and nests in holes in trees.
Shell duck
This large duck likes to live on mud-flats in coastal areas and inland lakes. They can be seen all year round and feed mainly on insects and shellfish.
Barn owl
Barn owls are nocturnal hunters, feeding mainly on small mammals such as mice and voles in open, grassy habitats. Their numbers dropped in the last century due to pesticide use by farmers. However, they are now protected by law and