wildlife

Sharp rush Juncus acutus with nutlet and inflorescence

Bog pimpernel Anagallis tenella showing sprawling habit

Showing seed, pale pink flowers, woolly blue leaves and a seed

Showing yellow and cream colouration and sprawling, tufted habit  

Rough bent grass Agrostis scabra with details of spikelet and ligule

Little Bluestem grass Schizachryium scoparium including roots

Hedgerows encourage birds, mammals, and insects and are easy to integrate into a garden.  this Swedish garden scene shows this priniciple.

Black oil beetle Meloe proscarabaeus showing distinctive abdominal shape and antennae.

Wasps and bees hibernating in cracks in an old wall, showing common UK bee and social wasp species in the mortar of a church wall

Spotted hyena Crocuta crocuta with leg bone of giraffe

Green woodpecker Picus viridis anting for parasite removal

Greater Spotted woodpecker Dendrocopos major seeking food.  Using its beak to pry under areas of bark, the woodpecker looks for small insects.

Digestive system of bird using domestic chicken, in diagram format, with close up of gizzard

Bighorn sheep Ovis canadensis fighting, using his horns to charge at a mating rival.

Comparison of Beak use in Darwin’s Finches.  Stippled illustration showing singing, feeding, and preening.

Beak comparison in Darwin’s finches showing use feeding, singing, and preening.  Line drawing.

Singing Darwin’s Finch Geospiza fulginosa showing beak in use.  

Singing Darwins Finch Geospiza fuliginosa.  Line drawing showing Galapagos finch and beak use.

Bird preening Darwins Finch Geospiza magnirostris line drawing showing the beak in use in parasite removal

Preening Darwins Finch Geospiza magnirostris line drawing showing the beak in use in parasite removal

Darwins Finch Geospiza magnirostris with Tribulus seed.  Stippled illustration showing beak adaptability.

Darwin’s Finch Geospiza magnirostris with Tribulus seed (line drawing)

Short-eared owl Asio flammeus in heather

Common or Black Knapweed Centaura nigra, showing diverse leaf shape and typical spherical, purple flowering heads.