Variegated scallop
The shells of this small scallop are often found washed up on our shores and comes in lots of different colours, including pink, red, orange and purple.!
The shells of this small scallop are often found washed up on our shores and comes in lots of different colours, including pink, red, orange and purple.!
This seagrass species is a kind of flowering plant that lives beneath the sea, providing an important habitat for many rare and wonderful species.
As its name suggests, the Dwarf thistle is a low-growing plant that is almost stemless - its purple, thistle-like flower heads growing out of a rosette of spiny leaves.
Look for Water avens in damp habitats, such as riversides, wet woodlands and wet meadows. It has nodding, purple-and-orange flowers that hang on delicate, purple stems.
A common thistle of roadside verges, rough grassland and waste ground, the Musk thistle has large, purple, nodding flower heads that appear in summer. It is attractive to a wide range of insects…
Ben keeps a diary of all the wildlife that he spots. He challenges himself to see new species: if he finds something that he doesn’t recognise, he takes a photograph so that he can look it up.
As its name suggests, the Melancholy thistle was once used to treat 'melancholia' (depression). Today, it can be found in upland hay meadows showing off its single, purple, thistle-like…
As its name suggests, giant hogweed it a large umbellifer with distinctively ridged, hollow stems. An introduced species, it is an invasive weed of riverbanks, where it prevents native species…
Saw-wort gets its common name from the serrated, saw-like edges to its leaves. It is a plant of unimproved hay meadows and woodland edges, its purple, thistle-like flowers appearing over summer.…
A common plant of disturbed ground like roadside verges and field edges, the spear thistle has purple, fluffy flower heads that appear in summer. Its flowers attract insects and its seeds feed…
Look for the round, cottony, purple flower heads of the Woolly thistle on chalk and limestone grasslands in summer. It is mainly found in Southern England.