Birch shieldbug
As its name suggests, the birch shieldbug can be found feeding on silver birch, and sometimes hazel, in mixed woodland. Adults hibernate over winter, emerging in spring to lay their eggs.
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Water vole by Terry Whittaker/2020VISION
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Birch polypore
The birch polypore only grows on Birch trees. This leathery bracket fungus has a rounded, coffee-coloured cap that was once used for sharpening tools, hence its other name: the 'Razorstrop…
Downy birch
A spindly tree of heathland and moorlands, and damp soils, the Downy birch is well known for its paper-thin, white bark. It is so-called for the hairy stalks from which its leaves grow; the Silver…
Silver birch
A spindly tree of heathland and moorlands, and dry and sandy soils, the Silver birch is well known for its paper-thin, white bark. It is a great coloniser and can quickly spread in an area.
Local Wildlife Sites
Local Wildlife Sites are special places recognised for having high wildlife value or containing rare or threatened habitats and species
Upland birch wood
Elegant, airy woodlands of silver-barked birches found across the northern uplands. Often transient in feel, with scattered trees growing over the heathy field layer of the surrounding moorland,…
Pochard
The once-common pochard is now under threat because its populations are declining rapidly. The UK is an important winter destination for the pochard, with 48,000 birds visiting our wetlands and…
Orchard
A visit to a traditional orchard reveals gnarled old trunks of fruit and nut trees bursting with blossoms and young leaves in springtime, with wildflowers and insects populating summer’s long…
Lowland dry oak and birch wood
Gnarled veteran oaks are interspersed with groves of pale, elegant birches, while swathes of bracken and soft tussocks of wavy hair-grass cover ground from which autumn fungi sprout.…
Some protection reinstated for at-risk Local Wildlife Sites
The Government has published a revised version of its National Planning Policy Framework which now includes some reinstated protection for Local Wildlife Sites following a campaign supported by 25…
Red-crested pochard
This striking duck was introduced to the UK and is now established as a breeding bird in England.
Surveying our community orchard and chasing butterflies
Rough Around the Edges project officer Katie Horgan gives an update on her groups' latest activities across the Chilterns, including surveying plants in a community orchard, an informal…