Hornet
The fearsome-looking hornet may not be a well-loved insect, but it is actually much less aggressive than the common wasp. It is also an important pollinator and a predator of species that feed on…
The fearsome-looking hornet may not be a well-loved insect, but it is actually much less aggressive than the common wasp. It is also an important pollinator and a predator of species that feed on…
With black-and-yellow markings, the Hornet robberfly looks like its namesake, but is harmless to us. This mimicry helps to protect it from predators while it perches in the open, waiting for its…
With black-and-yellow markings, the hornet mimic hoverfly looks like its namesake, but is harmless to us. This mimicry helps to protect it from predators while it searches for nectar.
One of the UK’s rarest marine species, this giant of the rocky shore is a very special fish.
As its name suggests, giant hogweed it a large umbellifer with distinctively ridged, hollow stems. An introduced species, it is an invasive weed of riverbanks, where it prevents native species…
With yellow-and-black bands, the giant horntail looks like a large wasp, but is harmless to us. The female uses her long, stinger-like ovipositor to lay eggs in pine trees, where the larvae then…
The giant house spider is one of our fastest invertebrates, running up to half a metre per second. This large, brown spider spins sheet-like cobwebs and pops up in the dark corners of houses,…
This football-sized fungus can be seen in autumn, sometimes growing on grass verges.
It’s always intrigued me that Kenneth Grahame chose Toad as his most impulsive, charismatic and rumbustious character. An adrenaline junky, desperate to be loved and the antithesis of Ratty’s…
It’s a crisp, early spring morning of watery sun and rippling bird song. The April greens are at their sharpest, the leaves of every plant impossibly lush. The flowers pushing themselves up among…
Ratty. Sensible, dependable, loyal, comfortable in his own skin, writes Harry Barton, Devon Wildlife Trust's CEO. He is the character who gives the river in Wind in the Willows its sense of…
Badger. Strong defiant, paternal, the only animal that the weasels and stoats won’t dare to cross. It is badger who the other animals turn to when things go wrong, the reluctant leader who steps…