Gallery

Our butterfly portfolio illustrates many native species such as the Comma and colourful Peacock which overwinter in old buildings. It also includes the Whites and Orange tips, all of which can be found flying in abundance throughout our countryside during the hot sunny days of summer. We also incorporate exotic migrants such as the Clouded Yellows that cover hundreds of miles to visit our shores and amaze us with their beauty and stamina.

Dragonflies and Damselflies are the iridescent essence of Summer with their rapid and acrobatic flight over both land and water in the hunt for food and a mate. Mating and egg laying displays are fascinating to watch and photograph. Evidence of the Dragonflies' former underwater existence can be found on reeds at the water's edge in the form of larval casts or exuviae. We aim to show as many of these wonderful characteristics together with closeups of the insects themselves.

This portfolio shows how man's day to day activities impact on the environment in various ways and on many levels. Dedicated individuals and organisations strive to improve and look after our towns, countryside and waterways, preserving our precious natural resources, including wildlife that struggles on a day to day basis to survive the pressures of modern day living. On the other hand there are those who continue to treat our world as a well of endless commercial resource and a dumping ground.

This portfolio introduces you to some of our smaller and less often seen mammals. From the Water Vole, which has declined dramatically in recent decades and is probably best known as Ratty from The Wind in the Willows, to the cute Hazel Dormouse. The dormouse's shy and retiring nature along with its nocturnal habits mean few people will have seen one in the wild. Both these small mammals are in extensive captive breeding programmes for release into the wild to secure their future.

This portfolio contains the larger mammals found in the British countryside. From the urban success story that is the Red Fox, which benefits directly from our wasteful society, to the Otter, which in the early 1960’s was on the verge of extinction due to river pollution, habitat loss and hunting. Now with full legal protection, cleaner rivers and managed habitat the otter is returning to its former haunts.

In this portfolio you will find a varied selection of fungi, from the red and white children's story-book classic, the Fly Agaric, to the more obscure Green Wood Fungus, which stains the wood used in the decoration of Tunbridge Ware.

We are lucky to have a large and diverse indigenous bird population in the South East of England, which lives along our coastline and rivers, in our woods and open spaces. This population includes Peregrines, that have taken up residence and raised chicks among the craggy perches of our capital city feeding off the pigeons; the humble Robin nesting on the shelf in the local garden centre; the exotic looking Avocet which has nested at the London Wetland Centre for the first time and the bright green tropical parakeets which now flock in our suburbs. We are also blessed with many migrants which visit our region to breed or just rest a while before flying onto other areas of our countryside to raise their families. You'll find as many of these birds as we can show you in this section of our site.

The arthropods form the largest of the animal groups. This group comprises insects, spiders and harvestmen, crustaceans, centipedes and millipedes and they all have hard, external skeletons and pairs of jointed limbs. The only crustaceans on land are the woodlice which are restricted to damp habitats, crustaceans commonly found in the sea are Crabs, Lobsters and Shrimps.
A mollusc is a soft-bodied animal such as a slug, snail, limpet, mussel or octopus. Molluscs can be found on land, in freshwater or in the sea and many protect their bodies by producing hard shells. Although often small, many arthropods and molluscs are fearsome in appearance and used as models for aliens or monsters. They are frequently the subject of nightmares! See them here!

Wildflowers can be found all around us. The immense variety of plants ensures there is always something new to discover wherever we are. However, one in five of Britain's wildflowers is threatened with extinction from either intensive farming, habitat loss, climate change, one of the many invasive species that take over a habitat or simply a combination of these factors. Despite these pressures their tenacity enables them to colonise building sites and waste ground in our urban landscape and adorn the verges of our motorways creating ribbon nature reserves throughout the country. Bluebells and bright yellow Celandine bring our woodlands to life in the springtime while at the height of summer our meadows are vibrant with the colours of buttercup, ox-eye daisy and clovers. All the while the swaying motion of the many varieties of grass seem to make the landscape dance. Our waterways and lakes host a range of interesting plant life too, including the rushes, marsh marigold and lilies. The images in our wildflower portfolio should brighten your day, enjoy!

In this portfolio you will find images of the Marsh Frog, introduced to Romney Marshes in Kent in 1935 and now well established, along with images of the Common Lizard often seen sunbathing on sunny banks and Britain’s most widespread reptile the Adder, our only venomous snake. The adder is found throughout mainland Britain and on some offshore islands in a variety of open and man-made habitats. Although they have suffered somewhat from the reduction of moorland habitat in Britain, adders remain relatively widespread.

Trees and bushes are our largest plants, rarely out of sight, but frequently overlooked in our busy lives. They may define our horizons but only close observations of trees throughout the seasons will reveal the enormous variety of their shapes, sizes, leaves, buds, flowers and fruits. Here we aim to illustrate some of the different natures of our more common trees and bushes; to wonder at the branches that weep or spread or rise, at the textures and colours of the bark and to celebrate the diversity of our trees.

Orchids have a large following of enthusiasts who marvel at the many forms, colours and variants and also at their highly descriptive names. We have dedicated a portfolio to these wonderful plants in order to show as many of them as possible. These range from the simple Common Spotted and Southern Marsh varieties to the interesting Bee and Fly and the more exotic Monkey, Butterfly and Lizard orchids. All of these can be found at special sites in our countryside during Spring and Summer. These sites are often closely monitored during the flowering season to protect the orchids from the sheer numbers of visitors.

All around us there are many varied habitats: coastal and freshwater regions, mountains, woodlands, farmland, parks, gardens and urban landscapes, providing for different plants and animals. Each habitat is created firstly by the underlying rock which interacts with the climate and affects the formation of the soil; the composition of the soil determines the vegetation which grows and this in turn determines the animal life that colonizes the area. Secondly, man's often profound impact on his surroundings can alter entire habitats, causing both plant and animal life to die out, move out or adapt to the new circumstances. The more diverse habitats there are the more varied and abundant is both the plant and animal life around us.