Out Now - Wildlife and Places to See in May!

Here you can find out about the wildlife you can seen in Wiltshire and Swindon at the moment. Visit this months featured site to see a wealth of wildlife, take a look at our identification guide to find out a group you are most likely to see, don’t forget to send us in your records!
 

Ragged-Robin - Lychnis flos-cuculi is a beautiful native herb named for its ragged-looking pink petals. It grows in a variety of damp habitats including marshes, rush-pasture, wet grassland and damp woodland glades and margins; in Wiltshire it is often associated with river floodplain grassland. It can be abundant in unimproved meadows on clay and also persists in ditches and other marginal ground next to fields and railways in areas where it grew previously. The ragged petals are divided into narrow segments; the pink flowers (which can sometimes range to deep red) are borne between May and July and are 30-40mm across.

Yellow iris - Iris pseudacorus One of only two native British irises, the bright yellow flowers of this plant flutter in the wind and resemble flags which give the plant its other common name of Yellow Flag. Can be found throughout the county in wet meadows, wet woodlands, lakes, ponds, canals and rivers. Although it grows best in wet conditions it can survive prolonged dry conditions. It is a perennial herb that grows between 1-1.5m tall and when it is in flower, from May to July, it can be easily identified. The yellow flowers are 7-10cm across and can vary in colour from a pale yellow to orange-yellow; each plant may bear up to 12 flowers.

Bramble - Rubus fruticosus the very familiar bramble or blackberry are deciduous, semi-evergreen scrambling shrubs. These sprawling shrubs can form very dominant stands up to 3m tall in woodlands, hedges, wasteground and banks thriving best on acidic soils although they have a great tolerance for other soils types. They are spread by bird dispersed seeds and are able to take root at the tip of their thick prickly stems. It is in leaf from March to November, their leaves have toothed edges and small prickles on the underneath. Flowers are out from May to September which are rose-like, white to pink and are crinkly, it fruits at the same time as flowering and the well known berries are shiny black or purple red which are ripe from July.

This Months Must See

Viviparous Lizard - Lacerta vivipara One of our six native reptile species and the only one to be found in Ireland the Viviparous Lizard is so called because it incubates its young internally before giving birth to live young unlike most other egg laying reptile species. At this time of year males are at their most vibrant in an attempt to attract a mate. Both males and females can be spotted during the April-May breeding season usually when basking often on stones or logs in open sunlight.

ID Guide

Spring Butterflies Spring sunshine wakes up the UK's woodland butterflies, and woodland flowers are vital for these butterflies as they emerge from hibernation. Many of our commoner butterflies will be encouraged into woodlands that have warm and sunny flower-rich tracks and glades. From here you can download our spring woodland butterflies ID guide to take with you and identify the species you see; don't forget to send us in any sightings either via our on-line recording form, or download a sightings form that you can print out and take with you.  

Find out about the woodland butterflies you can see this month with our ID guide  

Explore Site Focus - Clanger, Picket and Round Woods 

Send in records of any sightings

All environmental records are important, from the most common to the rarest, from the flocks of birds in the air to the fish in the river; we would like to hear about what you see in Wiltshire and Swindon. If you have already sent us records, thank you very much. We are always interested in receiving more. We would rather receive duplicate records than none at all. Don’t forget to send us any records of your sightings along with any photos