It’s National Hedgehog week and it does feels right to be highlighting these endearing and charismatic creatures. Have you had the honour of a prickly visitor in your garden recently? Many people in Cambridge have, especially the residents of Gwydir street who recently pledged to make their street the first official Hedgehog highway in Cambridge. Please see their website for their latest local sightings http://gwydirstreet.co.uk/hedgehogs Hedgehogs are declining rapidly, studies reveal that their numbers have fallen by half in the last 2 decades. This is mainly due to…

Have you noticed these bright red nail like protrusions growing on tree leaves recently? Ever wondered what they are? These could be spotted on a walk around your local Cambridge Nature reserve: Eriophyes tiliae, or more commonly known, nail galls occur on the leaves of our Large-leaved lime and hybrid common lime from now onward. They are caused by a leaf mite feeding on the sap of the leaves, this action causes chemicals to be secreted into the plant tissue and this causes the leaves to develop galls….

A common woodland plant with a not so common life cycle. Although the leaves have been up since February it is only now that the unusual ‘flowers’ become visible. If you are having a walk in a local woodland look down at ground level and spot these striking pale green sheath-like leaves wrapping round a purple or sometimes yellow needle-like structure or spadix as it is known. The sheath-like leaf or spathe is not the flower it is actually a modified leaf which curls around the spadix and…