Written by Cathy Robinson, nature and travel writer, for Naturehood at Earthwatch Europe Have you been lucky enough to spot a pair of copper-coloured eyes peeping out from a hidey hole this spring? If you have toads on your patch, they’ll have lain low during the colder months, snug in your compost heap, hiding in a pile of dead wood or burrowed into mud, only coming out to forage during mild spells. When you do see one, it will most likely be the common toad (bufo bufo) - meaning ‘toad toad’. Two species of toad are native to Britain, the other being the very rare natterjack toad bufo calami ..read more

What do barrel, moon and mauve stinger have in common? They’re all types of jellyfish that you could spot in UK waters Did you know that you can find jellyfish in the UK’s seas? It's most likely to be in the summer months, as jellyfish ‘blooms’ arrive as the water warms. At the Marine Conservation Society, we’re interested in what jellyfish are found in UK waters. We started our jellyfish survey in 2003, with the intention of understanding more about the distribution of jellyfish in our waters and how this affects leatherback turtles. Leatherbacks migrate to UK waters to feed on jellyfish thr ..read more

By Lorna Bointon, Sea Watch Foundation Regional Coordinator Found in every ocean, orcas, or killer whales, are apex predators at the top of the food chain and, along with other cetacean species, provide a visible indication of ocean health. A pod of orca / killer whales off the Caithness coast. Photo credit: Colin Bird/SWF The sea may reflect the UK’s changeable weather, ranging from stormy grey to dazzling azure blue, but from a cetacean’s point of view, it’s all black and white, or at least grey. Studies indicate that orcas, along with other cetacean species, do not have the necessary o ..read more

Our blog comes from mammal expert Derek Crawley. Derek is a valued and active member of the Mammal Society and has also previously sat on the Society’s Council. He is currently Chair of the Staffordshire Mammal Group and a Regional Coordinator for the National Harvest Mouse Survey. The harvest mouse is one of our smallest mammals and is the only mammal in the UK that has a prehensile tail. It wraps its tail around the stems of grasses so that it can lean out with its front paws to grab a leaf from an adjacent stem. Holding the leaf and using its teeth it splits the living leaf into two or ..read more

By Beccy Speight, Chief Executive of the RSPB Over the past two years, we have all had to navigate the difficulties and uncertainties which the Covid-19 pandemic has brought. But over one weekend in January, we can take a moment to put aside our worries and simply enjoy the beauty of nature on our doorstep with the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch. House sparrow was the most spotted species in the Big Garden Birdwatch 2021. Credit: Ben Andrew RSPB Images. Be One in a Million Last year, more than a million amazing people took part in the Birdwatch – the world’s largest garden wildlife survey ..read more

By Leanne McCormella, Comms and Marketing Executive at Washington Wetland Centre Experiencing nature is an immersive affair. It comes at you from all angles, overwhelming your senses, and to give yourself over to it is a truly special thing. But what if you don’t have full use of all your senses? Is it any less magical to be amongst wildlife or in the great outdoors? Or does it open up a different way to explore the wild world? Photographer Alex, from Sunderland, was born with Bardet Biedl syndrome; a genetic condition which causes a range of physical issues, including blindness. The talented ..read more

Migration is one of the most hazardous tasks a bird can undertake. Yet they have no choice; they need to migrate in order to survive. The UK’s migratory swan population is no different, with Bewick’s and whooper swans whiffling in on their snowy wings to escape the northerly winter. Like ghostly spirits, they appear at dawn to give us heart as the winter freeze takes hold. These beautiful birds are hugely in tune with the rhythms of our Northern climate, so how is increased warmth and weather unpredictability affecting them? Flock of Bewick swans by Ben Cherry The Bewick’s fortunes WWT Sl ..read more

From Ben McCarthy, Head of Nature Conservation and Restoration Ecology at the National Trust Reflecting on last year’s weather, while it might feel as though it was fairly benign compared to previous years of extreme heat and floods, we found that it was bookended by two catastrophic events in particular. Fire on Marsden Moor on 26 April 2021 by Victoria Holland Natural disasters strike In April, a mile long wildfire tore through Marsden Moor, in Yorkshire reducing swathes of land to smouldering embers. Then in November, storm Arwen toppled tens of thousands of trees, including many ancie ..read more

By Dave Sexton, RSPB Scotland Mull Officer It’s fair to say that after 30 odd years of assisting with post breeding nest clear-outs of white-tailed eagles, we’ve seen a vast array of prey items represented. In fact, it’s pretty clear that as both scavengers and hunters there’s not much they’ll turn their noses (beaks!) up at. The studies over many decades have given us a fascinating insight into what they will eat and what their particular favourites are. The limitations of such studies though are that they’ll tell us what they’ve carried into a nest but generally not how it was obtained in t ..read more

By Stuart Edmunds of Shropshire Wildlife Trust Stuart Edmunds is chair of Shropshire Mammal Group, a recording group with over 200 members and runs Shropshire Pine Marten Project. In his spare time, he gets involved with other wildlife monitoring projects around the world, all on top of being a communications officer! Pine martens officially call Shropshire home. This statement that still shocks me to this day, despite over 6 years passing since we first discovered them in the county. Having spent the previous 6 years running surveys to find evidence of England’s rarest mammal in Shropshir ..read more