The Comma, Polygonia c-album, named after the comma shaped mark on its white underwings, is a very striking butterfly in appearance and can be found in large numbers at the right time of year on its favourite plants. They are orange and black with ragged looking wings which break up their outline and make themContinue reading “The Comma”
Tag Archives: #Butterfly
The Dandelion, and why you should leave it be!
The Dandelion, Taraxacum officinale, is found all over the British isles and one of our most widespread and successful wildflowers. The first part of its scientific name, Taraxos, derives from the Ancient Greek word for ‘chaos’, and akos meaning ‘remedy’, and it is does indeed grow chaotically almost everywhere and, as will be covered laterContinue reading “The Dandelion, and why you should leave it be!”
The Violet Oil Beetle
The Violet Oil Beetle, Meloe violaceous, is an unusual looking beetle, similar, but not to be confused with the Violet Ground Beetle, quite large at about 3cm long, and as its name suggests, is a rather striking violet colour. It is an insect of strange proportions, its front end being almost ant-like, with a roundedContinue reading “The Violet Oil Beetle”
Catching moths in winter
As winter is slowly waning, the days getting longer and the nights milder, it becomes a bit more pleasant to leave the house and see what wildlife might be around in the neighbourhood, also tentatively poking its head out from hibernation and eager to get out and about. One way of doing this is mothContinue reading “Catching moths in winter”
The Wild Primrose
The month of January, cold and bleak as it may be, with little sign of life in the countryside save the occasional foraging Wren, still holds promise. Native flora like Wild Primroses, Primula Vulgaris, may be seen in sheltered parts of the hedgerows and woods around this time of year, poking their way through theContinue reading “The Wild Primrose”
Cotton Grass
Cotton Grass Eriophorum angustifolium, is a perennial (meaning re-occuring year after year) plant native to the blanket bogs of the British isles and found all over the northern fells. It often covers large expanses of moorland turning them white with its characteristically cotton-like seed heads, which can be an amazing sight in the height ofContinue reading “Cotton Grass”
The Dog Rose
The Dog Rose, Rosa canina, is a deciduous shrub native to the British isles, it is found in a wide variety of habitats but prefers hedgerows and scrubby patches of woodland, where it grows in a sprawling manner, its stems arching over each other and getting entangled with other briars and shrubs. It usually reachesContinue reading “The Dog Rose”
The Teasel
The Teasel, Dipsacus fullonum, is a tall, distinctive looking and handsome wildflower found throughout the British isles wherever nature has been given free reign to do whatever it likes, for this reason some refer to it not as a wildflower, but as a weed. In the first year of its growth it is a fairlyContinue reading “The Teasel”
Northwest Nature and History 