Week 65: Black-headed Gull ('Chroicocephalus ridibundus')

The Black-headed Gull was @SpeciesofUK from 16^th to 22^nd June.

Black-headed gulls are a common species of UK gull, found just as often inland as they are on the coast.[1] They are noisy and quarrelsome birds.

Black-headed Gull
[Wikimedia Commons © Arild Vågen]

Week 63: Roe Deer ('Capreolus capreolus')

The Roe Deer was @SpeciesofUK from 2^nd to 8^th June, 2014.

The roe deer is a native UK deer species that nearly become extinct here in the eighteenth century.[1] They are known for their distinctive three-tined antlers.

Roe Deer
[Flickr Creative Commons © Don Sutherland]

Week 62: Common Blue Damselfly ('Enallagma cyathigerum')

The Common Blue Damselfly was @SpeciesofUK from 27^th May to 1^st June, 2014.

The common blue is a small and brightly coloured damselfly that is common throughout Europe and the British Isles.[1]

Common Blue Damselfly
[Flickr Creative Commons © Rushen]

Week 60: Treecreeper ('Certhia familiaris')

The Treecreeper was @SpeciesofUK from 12^th to 18^th May, 2014.

The treecreeper is a wonderful, active little bird that, as its name suggests, lives in trees. It's notable for its foraging habits and slender curved bill.

Treecreeper
[Flickr Creative Commons © gynti_46]

Week 59: Pipistrelle bats ('Pipistrellus')

Pipistrelle Bats were @SpeciesofUK from 21^st to 27^th April, 2014.

The pipistrelles are the UK’s most widespread and abundant, and also our smallest, bats.[1]

Common Pipistrelle
[Flickr Creative Commons © Gilles San Martin]

Week 57: Small White Butterfly (‘Pieris rapae’)

The Small White Butterfly was @SpeciesofUK from 7^th to 13^th April, 2014.

The small white is one of the butterflies (alongside the large white) that we sometimes call a 'cabbage white.'[1] It is one of the most widespread butterflies in the UK.[2]

Small White Butterfly
[Wikimedia Commons © James Lindsey]

Week 56: Willow Warbler ('Phylloscopus trochilus')

The Willow Warbler was @SpeciesofUK from 31^st March to 6^th April, 2014.

Willow Warblers are slim, delicate birds of woodland, scrub, parks and gardens.[1]

Willow Warbler
[Flickr Creative Commons © Muchaxo]

They migrate to the UK for the summer from southern Africa.[2] 

Week 53: Sparrowhawk ('Accipiter nisus')

The Sparrowhawk was @SpeciesofUK from 10^th to 16^th March, 2014.

The UK's sparrowhawk is also known the 'northern sparrowhawk' or 'Eurasian sparrowhawk' to distinguish it from other sparrowhawks.[1]

Sparrowhawk
[Flickr Creative Commons © Philippe Garcelon]

It is a small raptor with short rounded wings and long legs.

Week 50: European Conger Eel (‘Conger conger’)

The European Conger was @SpeciesofUK from 10^th to 16^th February, 2014.

The European conger is a large species of eel that is common and widespread round the UK and Irish coasts.[1]

European Conger
[Flickr Creative Commons © Frank Gloystein]

Congers are long, powerful and renowned as being fearsome predators.

Week 48: Barnacle Goose ('Branta leucopsis')

The Barnacle Goose was @SpeciesofUK from 27^th January to 2^nd February, 2014.

Barnacle geese are medium-sized geese with a distinctive white face and belly, and black head, neck and breast.[1]

Barnacle Goose
[Wikimedia Commons © Ludovic Péron]

They are Arctic geese that come to the UK for winter and congregate in spectacular fashion. 

Week 47: Sea Slugs ('Nudibranch')

Sea Slugs were @SpeciesofUK from 20^th to 26^th January, 2014.

   

Sea slug is a common name given to thousands of marine gastropod molluscs that lack external shells.[1] They are related to our familiar land-dwelling slugs and snails.

Polycera quadrilineata
[Flickr Creative Commons © Frank Gloystein]

The main grouping of sea slugs is the so-called ‘nudibranchs’.[2] It is these that form the subject of this post. 

Week 45: Common Frog (‘Rana temporaria’)

The Common Frog was @SpeciesofUK from 6^th to 12^th January, 2013.

The common frog is one of the UK’s native amphibians and is very widespread.

Common Frog
[Flickr Creative Commons ©  Isfugl]

Week 44: Snow Bunting ('Plectrophenax nivalis')

The Snow Bunting was @SpeciesofUK from 23^rd December 2013 to 5^th January 2014.

Snow buntings are small birds that breed mainly in the Arctic and migrate south in the winter.[1]

Snow Bunting
[Flickr Creative Commons © foxypar4]

In the UK, we have a large wintering population of snow buntings and we are also lucky enough to have a small summer breeding population, in the Cairngorms of Scotland.[2] Snow buntings have been described as “possibly the most romantic and elusive bird in the British Isles.”[3]

Week 39: Wood Mouse (‘Apodemus sylvaticus’)

The Wood Mouse was @SpeciesofUK from 21^st to 27^th October, 2013.

The wood mouse is a rodent from the Muridae family (mice, rats and gerbils). Muridae is the largest mammal family in the world, containing over 700 species.[1]

Wood Mouse
[Flickr Creative Commons © Isfugl]

The wood mouse can be found across Europe from Iceland to Ukraine. It's also native to the northern coast of Africa in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.[2] 

Week 38: Dunlin (‘Calidris alpina’)

The Dunlin was @SpeciesofUK from 14^th to 20^th October, 2013.

Dunlins are waders that form massive winter flocks in the UK. They are known for the black bellies they develop in their distinctive breeding plumage.

Dunlin
[Source: Flickr Creative Commons © talis qualis]

Week 36: Ragworms (‘Nereididae’)

Ragworms were @SpeciesofUK from 23^rd to 29^th September, 2013.

'Ragworms' are a group of about five hundred species worldwide that make up the Nereididae family, split into forty-two genera. They are mostly found in marine environments.[1]

A King Ragworm
[Source: Flickr Creative Commons © bathyporeia]

Ragworms are found in abundance in UK estuaries and along sandy or muddy shorelines, where they live in U- or J-shaped burrows up to 20cm deep.[2]

Week 33: Grey Partridge (‘Perdix perdix’)

The grey partridge was @SpeciesofUK from 1^st to 8^th September, 2013.

The grey partridge the UK’s native partridge. It is medium-sized, plump, with a distinctive orange face.[1]

Grey Partridge
[Source: Flickr Creative Commons © Langham Birder]

It is usually classed as a game bird. 'Game' basically refers to an animal that is hunted for food (or sometimes for sport).[2]

Week 32: Bottlenose Dolphin (‘Tursiops truncatus’)

The bottlenose dolphin was @SpeciesofUK from 14^th to 31^st August, 2013.

Bottlenose dolphins are one of the most widespread mammals in the world. They can be found in every ocean, with the exception of polar waters.[1]

There are two species of bottlenose dolphin, the ‘common’ bottlenose and the ‘the Indo-Pacific’ bottlenose. The common bottlenose dolphin is native to the UK and is the subject of this blog.[2]

Bottlenose Dolphin
[Source: Flickr Creative Commons © Javier Corbo]

Week 24: Lapwing (‘Vanellus vanellus’)

The Lapwing was @SpeciesofUK from 26^th May to 1^st June, 2013.

The lapwing is from the Charadriidae family (plovers/dotterel/lapwings), which contains around 65 species. A lapwing is kind of a large plover.[1]

It is a very familiar bird, often seen in farmland across the UK.[2] In fact, the lapwing is the UK's commonest breeding wader.[3]

The Lapwing
[Source: Wikimedia Commons © Alpsdake]

Aside from in the UK, the lapwing is found across Europe, Asia and North Africa. It's quite a widespread bird.[4] Across the whole of Europe there are somewhere between 1.1 and 1.7 million breeding pairs of lapwing. Globally there are as many as five million.[5]

Week 21: Great Crested Newt (‘Triturus cristatus’)

The great crested newt was @SpeciesofUK from 28^th April to 4^th May, 2013.

The great crested newt is the UK's largest newt and its most threatened.[1] Sadly, the population has been in decline across the last 40 years.[2]

Great Crested Newt
[Source: Flickr Creative Commons © Mike Richardson and Sarah Winch]

They are mainly active at night, spending the day at the bottom of ponds or hidden in vegetation.[3]