Look Wild: Wildflowers on Exmoor
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Date posted: 27/06/2024
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Time to read: 8 minutes
As summer blooms now is a great time to learn to identify wildflowers. Using iNaturalist and the National Parks UK Look Wild project is a great way to explore biodiversity in your area and get inspired to do more to help wildlife near you.
Wildflower season is well and truly here as we go through summer. We had a good attempt at taking part in ‘No Mow’ May both at home and in Exmoor National Park’s carparks and waysides. It has been great to practice our wildflower ID skills watching flowers bloom in the lawn and using them to learn about different common flowers. Having looked at buttercups we discovered the sepals (the parts forming the outer part of a flower that surround the petals) spread out around the petals and there was a faint groove in the stem, meaning we had creeping buttercups. The kids were then set the challenge to find a buttercup with sepals that bend away from the petals (on reward of an ice cream if they found one). Having the sepals in this position is called reflexed, and the kids spent the next twenty minutes looking at the back of every buttercup they could find searching for these reflexed sepals.
Observation by ©Patrick Watts-Mabbott
As I write this, we are entering ‘still too soon to cut the lawn’ June but practicalities prevail and we need some space to play, but we are leaving the edges and corners to see what else develops. This also increases the amount of insect life living there which in turn makes food for the young birds. Ideally, we would leave it a bit longer, and we are certainly going to experiment with monthly mowing to increase the wildflowers and insects living in our garden.
Leaving the garden and exploring Exmoor on walks, me and the kids love taking photos of flowers we find for the National Parks UK Look Wild project on iNaturalist, using the skills they developed with buttercups to make sure that they take photographs of the flower from different angles and include its leaves and structure to help identification. The orchids were one of their favourites to find. iNaturalist is amazing at providing plant identification and is more often right than wrong. A bit of internet searching for how to tell the difference between ‘x’ and ‘y’ can be very informative. The Botanical Society of Britian and Ireland (BSBI) have some excellent guides in their plant ID getting started section. We found the Dinky Moira guides on violets, speedwells, buttercups, and geraniums particularly useful.
Heath spotted orchid, observation by ©Elizabeth Atkinson
Looking for wildflowers led us to stumble across some amazing ants. The yellow meadow ant (often mistaken for stinging red ants, but harmless) starts to change the grassland it lives in. Making areas of raised well drained bare soil for flower seeds to start growing on. Bird’s-foot trefoil seems to be a common species that takes advantage of this in our area. You can tell the difference between greater and lesser bird’s–foot trefoil by examining the flower stalks, one of them has a hollow stalk.
Yellow meadow ants, observation by ©Patrick Watts-Mabbott
Since the 1930s the UK has lost 97% of its species rich meadows, largely due to changes in land use caused by the end of reliance of horses as our main form of transport. Hay meadows to feed our equine horsepower provided much of this habitat. As mechanisation took over – combined with other changes to increase food production – our wildflowers declined. On Exmoor, we have started the ‘sowing the seeds’ project aiming to restore 325 hectares of wildflower meadows across the National Park as well as working with landowners, communities, and school groups. You can do your bit too. By letting your lawn grow, and making some space for nature you can help the wildlife in your area as well. Find out more about making wildlife friendly lawns. On Exmoor our volunteers have been helping by to learning to scythe longer areas of grass to encourage the wildflowers to come through.
If you’ve been inspired to get out into nature, you can share any photos or observations with us and get featured on our social or our newsletter! Send your observations to connect@nationalparks.uk
Join iNaturalist and start identifying nature near you today! LookWild is a brilliant citizen science project that helps contribute to our data and knowledge of wildlife and habitat health across the UK.
This blog was written by Patrick Watts-Mabbott Volunteer and Outreach Officer at Exmoor National Park Authority
15 National Parks. One shared challenge. Our climate is changing, and with it comes an increased risk of wildfire across our landscapes.
That’s why we’ve committed to taking action through our new Wildfire Management Position Statement. Together, the National Parks will work to support nature recovery to help manage wildfire risk, plan for and strengthen wildfire response and coordination, improve risk management and preparedness, and share clear, consistent public messaging.
But we can’t do it alone.
Communities, organisations, land managers and visitors all have a role to play in reducing wildfire risk. By working together, we can help protect our National Parks and prepare for a future where hotter, drier weather may increase the risk of wildfire.
Read the full statement by clicking on the link in our bio 🔗
Photos:
Slide 1 - Fighting the Glenmore wildfire, © Ed Smith. Slide 2 - Fighting the Glenmore wildfire, © Malcolm Smith. Slide 3 - View across Loch Morlich during Glenmore wildfire, July 2026, © Brenna Jessie. Slide 4 - Fighting the Glenmore wildfire, © Malcolm Smith. Slide 5 - View from the cab of a tractor aiding in fighting the wildfire in the Cairngorms National Park, CPNA. Slide 5 - Firefighting vehicles at the Glenmore wildfire, © Malcolm Smith.
#Wildfires #NationalParksUK
It’s not every day you get to see one of our National Parks in biscuit form on @britishbakeoff!
Last night, The Great British Bake Off contestant @itsdoctoryan created a beautiful biscuit mosaic inspired by the Broads National Park, perfectly capturing the view at St Benet’s Mill, Thurne.
And it wasn’t just a feast for the eyes as the mosaic was made using treacle and ginger, honey and lemon, cocoa and malted milk, and pistachio biscuits.
Two great things combined: a beautiful National Park view and delicious biscuits. What could be better than that? 💚
Photo: Channel 4
#GBBO #BakeOff #NorfolkBroads @broadsnationalpark
You’ve likely heard of one - but what does it actually do?
Our 15 Parks wouldn’t be able to function without the authorities working behind the scenes to keep them running.
And each authority relies on people. People within the community, volunteers, staff and members. People that run businesses, or partner as organisations. People that are skilled and knowledgeable in a variety of areas from wildlife to accessibility.
Our National Parks are full of people and action, and it’s the Authorities that bring them all together.
💚
#NationalParksUK #NationalParkAuthorities
The Yorkshire Dales has one of the highest concentrations of caves and caverns of any of our 15 National Parks - a whole landscape hiding beneath the ground.
Our National Parks don’t just protect and preserve the landscapes we see every day. They also help care for historic and unique places discovered by our ancestors, like Ingleborough Cave and Gaping Gill, both of which were shrouded in myth and legend until they were explored by Victorians in the 1800s.
There’s so much more to our National Parks than meets the eye and sometimes, quite literally beneath the surface 👀
#YorkshireDales #GapingGill #Ingleborough
A week on from National Parks UK’s Big Volunteer Weekend, we’re still celebrating the people who make a difference across our National Parks.
Last weekend, hundreds of people came together across all 15 National Parks to give their time, share their skills and support our landscapes.
But volunteering in our National Parks doesn’t happen just one weekend a year. All year round, volunteers play an incredible variety of roles – from leading guided walks and supporting education, to conservation, planting and caring for our landscapes.
Every volunteer makes a valuable contribution to protecting our natural and cultural heritage. We simply couldn’t do what we do without you. 💚
So, to all our volunteers: thank you for your time, energy, enthusiasm and everything you bring to our National Parks.
If you know someone who volunteers in a National Park, help us spread the thanks by sharing this post. 🌿
#Volunteers #NationalParks #NationalParksUK
Mae’r Bele yn un o famaliaid prinnaf Cymru, ond mae eu niferoedd yn tyfu yn raddol. Mae hynny’n newyddion da i’n coetiroedd ac i’r Parciau Cenedlaethol, sy’n darparu rhai o’r cynefinoedd pwysicaf ar gyfer bywyd gwyllt ledled Cymru a Phrydain.
Ym Mannau Brycheiniog, mae’r prosiect adfer wedi gosod blychau nythu yn y coed, ac mae gwaith monitro wedi nodi presenoldeb y Bele, gan gynnwys grwpiau teuluol. Mae’r ffilm arbennig hon yn dangos un ohonynt ar waith. 🐾
Mae’n atgof hyfryd o’r hyn sy’n bosibl pan ddaw coetiroedd iach a gwaith cadwraeth arbenigol at ei gilydd i roi’r gofod sydd ei angen ar rywogaethau prin i wella.
Pine Martens are one of Wales’ rarest mammals, but they’re slowly making a comeback. That’s good news for our woodlands, and for National Parks, which provide some of the most important habitats for wildlife across Wales and Britain.
In Bannau Brycheiniog (the Brecon Beacons), the recovery project has installed treetop den boxes, with monitoring identifying pine martens, including family groups. This special footage shows one in action. 🐾
It’s a lovely reminder of what can happen when healthy woodlands and specialist conservation work come together to give rare species the space they need to recover.
#BreconBeacons #BannauBrycheiniog #PineMartins #Wales
It’s the Autumn Equinox 🍂
Our National Parks are always changing in time with the rhythm of nature, but this becomes particularly noticeable when autumn arrives.
Deer begin to rut, spiders’ cobwebs glisten in the fresh light, fungi become more prominent, and leaves begin to change colour.
What changes have you noticed so far? 🧡
#Autumn #AutumnEquinox #NationalParks
“You look after the National Park not for yourself, but for people who are coming, the ones who are following you.”
These are the words of Ron Wood, who has been volunteering for the Lake District National Park for over 60 years. His story reflects the vital role volunteering plays across our National Parks: keeping them thriving, communities invested, and people connected to and caring for our landscapes.
Over the decades, Ron’s incredible journey has seen him remain steadfast in his commitment through droughts, hand, foot and mouth disease, and the ever-changing rhythms of nature. Through it all, one thing has remained constant: his dedication to looking after the environment for those who come after him.
You can read Ron`s full story by clicking the link in our bio or learn more about volunteering at nationalparks.uk/volunteering 🔗
📸Photos by @lakedistrictnpa
#LakeDistrict #Volunteering #NationalParks
