Magor Marsh Nature Reserve
Gwent Wildlife Trust 30 Days Wild blogger and Reserve Appeal fundraiser and Ambassador Lucy Holland, details her trip to our flagship Nature Reserve - Magor Marsh.
Gwent Wildlife Trust 30 Days Wild blogger and Reserve Appeal fundraiser and Ambassador Lucy Holland, details her trip to our flagship Nature Reserve - Magor Marsh.
The tightly packed, thistle-like purple flower heads of common knapweed bloom on all kinds of grasslands. Also regularly called black knapweed, this plant attracts clouds of butterflies.
Soft brome is a tall, annual grass of roadside verges, waste ground and meadows, and is a 'weed' of arable land. It has long, grey-green leaves and loosely clustered flower spikes.
The distinctive spiky, or 'bearded', green flower heads of wall barley appear from June to July and are easy to spot in an urban environment as they push their way up through pavements…
Looking like a short Dandelion, but with a much rounder middle, Colt's-foot is a 'weed' of waste ground and field edges that brightens up early spring with its sunshine-yellow…
A common thistle of roadside verges, rough grassland and waste ground, the Musk thistle has large, purple, nodding flower heads that appear in summer. It is attractive to a wide range of insects…
As its name suggests, pendulous sedge has drooping form with long, nodding flower spikes that give it an attractive and soft look. It can be found in wet woodlands and along riversides.
As its name suggests, quaking-grass can be seen quivering or 'quaking' in a breezy, summer wildflower meadow. Its purple-and-green, heart-shaped flower heads hang from delicate stems.…
Recently, even though we were locked down at home, we went on safari. Not to Africa, of course, just in our garden, doing an audit known as a bioblitz of the creatures living in it.
Why not…
To celebrate World Otter Day (May 27) Gwent Wildlife Trust supporter and UK Wild Otter Trust Ambassador Jeff 'Otterman' Chard tells us more about these amazing creatures.
Great reedmace is familiar to many of us as the archetypal 'bulrush'. Look for its tall stems, sausage-like, brown flower heads and green, flat leaves at the water's edge in our…
Look out for the white, umbrella-like flower heads of lesser water-parsnip along the shallow margins of ditches, ponds, lakes and rivers. When crushed, it does, indeed, smell like parsnip!