Red Fox

Vulpes vulpes crucigera

Family: Canidae

Habitat: Farmland, gardens and parks, woodland, heathland, grassland, sand dunes and sea cliffs.

Size: Height 35-50 cm (14-20 in). Length 45-90 cm (18-35 in). Tail 30-56 cm (12-22 in).

Food: Rodents, rabbits, birds, fruit and vegetables, fish, frogs, and worms.

Sound: Vocal range of five octaves. Various barks and screams.

Season: All year round.

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Stoat

Mustela erminea

Family: Mustelidae

Habitat: Coastal, farmland, grasslands, heathlands and woodland.

Size: Length 16-32 cm. Weight 90 - 445 g

Food: Rabbits, rodents, small birds, fish, shrews, amphibians, lizards, and insects.

Season: All year round.

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

A very skilful tree climber that can descend a trunk headfirst.

Grey Squirrel

Sciurus carolinensis

Family: Sciuridae

Habitat: Woodland and gardens and parks.

Size: Length 23-30 cm (9.1-11.8 in). Tail 19-25 cm (7.5-9.8 in).

Food: Tree bark, buds, berries, seeds, acorns, walnuts, and other nuts, and fungi.

Season: All year round.

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Each grey squirrel makes several thousand small caches of hidden food every summer. Their nests or dreys are made of twigs and leaves often in the forks of trees. They are crepuscular and do not hibernate.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Dendrocopos major

Family: Picidae (Woodpeckers and allies)

Habitat: Gardens and parks and woodland.

Food: Insects, nuts and seeds.

Voice: Call sharp kik, kik. Drumming.

Season: All year round.

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Jerky actions. Hops up trees rather than climbs. Easy and undulated flight.

Green Woodpecker

Picus viridis

Family: Picidae (Woodpeckers and allies)

Habitat: Gardens and parks, grasslands, heathlands and woodland.

Food: Ants.

Voice: Distinctive ringing laugh yah, yah, yah.

Season: All year round. All year round.

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Green woodpeckers spend a lot of time eating ants on the ground. They breed in oval holes they peck in dead wood.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Dendrocopos minor

Family: Picidae (Woodpeckers and allies)

Habitat: Gardens and parks and woodland.

Food: Ants.

Voice: Distinctive high-pitched kee, kee, kee.

Season: All year round.

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Spends much time searching for larvae, spiders and wood-boring insects on smaller branches and in the tops of trees.

Robin

Erithacus rubecula

Family: Muscicapidae (Old World flycatchers)

Habitat: Gardens and parks, meadows, orchards and woodland.

Size: 12.5-14.0 cm (5.0-5.5 inches)

Food: Worms, insects and berries.

Voice: Warbling song and a harsh tick.

Season: All year round.

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Often territorial, hops rapidly. A friendly bird that will sometimes feed from the hand of someone who is familiar.

Nuthatch

Sitta europaea

Family: Sittidae (Nuthatches)

Habitat: Woodland and gardens and parks.

Size: Length 14 cm (5.5 in). Wingspan 22.5-27 cm (8.9-10.6 in).

Food: Insects, hazel nuts, acorns and other nuts and seeds.

Voice: Distinctive rising whistle too-wee, too-wee.

Season: All year round.

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Typically seen on the sides of tree trunks and underside of branches searching for food.

Treecreeper

Certhia familiaris

Family: Certhiidae (Treecreepers)

Habitat: Woodland.

Size: Length 12.5 cm (4.9 in).

Food: Insects, spiders and seeds.

Voice: Sit. Tsree. ♂ Srrih, srrih.

Season: All year round. All year round.

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Insectivorous, it hops mouse-like up a vertical trunk looking for food.

Mallard

Anas platyrhynchos

Family: Anatidae (Swans, ducks and geese)

Habitat: Coastal, lakes and reservoirs, ponds, rivers and streams, wetlands and freshwaters and coastal grazing marsh.

Food: Seeds, acorns and berries, plants, insects and shellfish.

Voice: ♂ Nasal call, and a high-pitched whistle. ♀ Quack.

Season: All year round. All year round.

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

The mallard is a dabbling duck that unusually interbreeds with ducks such as the American black duck, the northern pintail and others leading to various hybrids.

Mute Swan

Cygnus olor

Family: Anatidae (Swans, ducks and geese)

Habitat: Lakes and reservoirs, ponds, wetlands and freshwaters, estuaries and rivers and streams.

Size: Length 125-170 cm (49-67 in).

Food: Water plants, agricultural crop plants, insects and snails.

Voice: Occasional grunting, whistling and snorting.

Season: All year round.

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

One of the heaviest flying birds, 9.2-14.3kg (20-32lb).

Grey Heron

Ardea cinerea

Family: Ardeidae (Herons)

Habitat: Lakes and reservoirs, ponds, rivers and streams, wetlands and freshwaters and estuaries.

Size: Height 1 m (3 ft 3 in).

Food: Fish, small birds, small mammals and amphibians.

Voice: Far carrying kaark.

Season: All year round.

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Typically wades in shallow waters looking for fish and amphibians.

Coot

Fulica atra

Family: Rallidae (Rails)

Habitat: Lakes and reservoirs, ponds, rivers and streams, wetlands and freshwaters, estuaries, chalk streams, lowland fen, reedbeds and upland flushes, fens an

Size: Length 32-42 cm (13-17 in). Weight 585-1,100 g (1.290-2.425 lb).

Food: Vegetation, seeds, fruit, snails, eggs and insect larvae.

Season: All year round.

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Aggressive and strongly territorial during the breeding season.

Moorhen

Gallinula chloropus

Family: Rallidae (Rails)

Habitat: Lakes and reservoirs, ponds and rivers and streams.

Size: Length 30-38 cm (12-15 in). Wingspan 50-62 cm (20-24 in).

Food: Water plants, seeds, fruit, grasses, insects, snails, worms, small fish, small rodents, amphibians and eggs.

Season: All year round.

Common Frog

Rana temporaria

Family: Ranidae

Habitat: Lakes and reservoirs, ponds and wetlands and freshwaters.

Size: Length 6 to 9 cm (2.4 - 3.5 in).

Food: Adults - invertebrates. Tadpoles - algae, detritus, plants and small invertebrates.

Season: All year round.

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Frogs spawn in early spring. Tadpoles take between twelve to sixteen weeks to metamorphose into tiny froglets.

Comma

Polygonia c-album

Family: Nymphalidae (Brush-footed)

Habitat: Woodland, gardens and parks and hedgerows.

Size: Length 24 mm. Wingspan 50-64 mm.

Food: Hops, stinging nettle and elm.

Flight: Early April to late September.

The comma is given its name by a white comma shaped mark on the underside of its hind wing.

Painted Lady

Vanessa cardui

Family: Nymphalidae (Brush-footed)

Habitat: Gardens and parks and meadows.

Size: Length 30 mm.

Food: Stinging nettle.

Flight: Early April to late October. April till October.

A fast flying butterfly that has a spectacular migration from Africa to Europe each spring, flying at altitudes of up to 3,000 feet, and speeds of up to 30 mph.

Tree of heaven

Ailanthus altissima

Family: Simaroubaceae

Habitat: Woodland.

Size: Height 17-27 metres (56-89 ft).

Flowering Period: All year round.

The tree of heaven, native to northeast and central China and Taiwan, is a very rapidly growing tree reaching heights of 15 metres (49 ft) in 25 years.

The tree rarely lives for more than 50 years, however it can clone itself by growing suckers.

Paper-bark maple

Acer griseum

Family: Sapindaceae

Habitat: Woodland.

Size: Height 6-9 m (20-30 ft). Width 5-6 m (16-20 ft).

Flowering Period: All year round.

Produces androdioecious yellow flowers and paired samara with two winged seeds.

The plant is native to central china and was by introduced to England by Ernest Henry Wilson (1876 - 1930), one of the world's most prolific plant collectors. The E.H. Wilson Memorial Garden opened in Chipping Campden, Gloucester in 1984.

New leaves are often pinkish and in autumn can turn red and crimson.

Cow Parsley

Anthriscus sylvestris

Family: Apiaceae

Habitat: Farmland, gardens and parks, grasslands, meadows, woodland, arable field margins, deciduous woods and woodland clearings and edges.

Size: Height 60-170 cm (24-67 in).

Pollinator: Flies and bees.

Scent: A mix of parsley and aniseed.

Flowering Period: Early April to late June.

Cow parsley can be mistaken for several similar-looking poisonous plants, such as hemlock and fool's parsley.

Red Campion

Silene dioica

Family: Caryophyllaceae

Habitat: Woodland, beaches and shorelines and hedgerows.

Size: Height 20-60 cm (8-25 in).

Pollinator: Bumblebees, butterflies and flower flies.

Scent: None.

Flowering Period: Early May to late August.

Several species of moth (such as rivulet, sandy carpet, twin-spot carpet, campion and lychnis) feed on the foliage of this dioecious perennial.

Wild Daffodil

Narcissus pseudonarcissus

Family: Amaryllidaceae

Habitat: Gardens and parks, meadows and woodland clearings and edges.

Flowering Period: Early March to late May.

The Wild Daffodilalso know as theLent Lilly is native to meadows and woods in Europe, North Africa and West Asia. There are several subspecies of wild daffodil.

Alder

Alnus glutinosa

Family: Betulaceae (Birch)

Habitat: Ponds, woodland, lakes and reservoirs and rivers and streams.

Size: Height 30 metres (100 ft).

Flowering Period: All year round.

Provides a habitat for over 140 species of insects, lichens and fungi - some completely dependant. Supports caterpillars of the alder kitten, pebble hook-tip, the autumnal and the blue bordered carpet moth and the small pearl-bordered fritillary and chequered skipper butterflies.

Seeds are eaten by the siskin, redpoll and goldfinch while otters use the roots to make nest sites.

English Oak

Quercus robur

Family: Fagaceae (Beeches, oaks et al)

Habitat: Woodland, grassland and hedgerows.

Flowering Period: All year round.

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

The English Oak, a large deciduous tree,is also called the pedunculate oak due to its pedunculate (stalked) acorns. Its leaves have a very short stalk 38 mm. It is the most common tree species in the UK with one specimen, the Majesty Oak havinga circumference of 12.2 m.

Bowthorpe Oak in Lincolnshire is estimated to be 1,000 years oldmaking it the oldest in the UK.

It provides a habitat for 170 species.

Ash

Fraxinus excelsior

Family: Oleaceae

Habitat: Gardens and parks, woodland, lowland mixed deciduous, wood-pasture and parkland and deciduous woods.

Size: Height 12-43 m (39-141 ft). Leaf length 20-35 cm (7.9-13.8 in).

Flowering Period: All year round.

Some ash trees live for over 250 years.

Ash dieback, caused by the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, has caused the widespread death of ash trees. 130 million trees in the UK are under threat.

Several Lepidoptera use the species as a food source including dingy skipper, duke of burgundy, grayling, high brown fritillary, northern brown argus, pearl-bordered fritillary, small pearl-bordered fritillary and white-letter hairstreak.

Hazel

Corylus avellana

Family: Betulaceae (Birch)

Habitat: Woodland and hedgerows.

Flowering Period: All year round.

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Hazelnuts are rich in protein and unsaturated fat and contain significant amounts of manganese, copper, vitamin E, thiamine, and magnesium.

Hazel provides both a habitat and food source for the hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius).