Hamish Murray
Seasonal Species Challenge
Join our Seasonal Species Challenge
As the days grow longer and the air warms up, nature begins to stir - buzzing, blooming, and croaking back to life. This spring, we’re inviting you to take part in our Seasonal Species Challenge, a celebration of wildlife you can spot in your garden, local greenspace, or on your favourite nature walk.
We’ve chosen three species - the buff-tailed bumblebee, the common frog and the cowslip - with ID tips, habitat clues, and ideas for how you can support them in your garden or local green space. Report your sightings using the form below and your sighting will display on our interactive map and help build a picture of Dorset's biodiversity.
Jon Hawkins, Surrey Hills Photography
Buff-tailed bumblebee
How to identify: large and furry with a buff-coloured tail and two yellow bands – one on the thorax, one on the abdomen. Queens are especially big and emerge early in spring.
Where to look: find it buzzing around flowering shrubs, gardens, hedgerows and sunny woodland edges.
What you can do: plant nectar-rich early bloomers like crocus, lungwort and comfrey. Leave a patch of bare ground for nesting.
Did you know? A single bumblebee can visit up to 5,000 flowers in one day – making them vital spring pollinators!
Richard Burkmar
Common frog
How to identify: smooth-skinned and often brown, green or grey with a dark patch behind each eye. Look out for their distinctive hopping movement and clusters of jelly-like frogspawn in shallow water.
Where to look: garden ponds, wetlands, damp grasslands and shady corners – especially in early spring when they gather to breed.
What can you do: create or maintain a wildlife-friendly pond with sloping edges and native aquatic plants. Avoid using pesticides and keep access routes to the water open.
Did you know? Frogs don’t drink through their mouths – they absorb water through their skin!
Hamish Murray
Cowslip
How to identify: bright yellow, bell-shaped flowers hang in clusters from tall stems. Leaves are wrinkled and grow in a rosette at the base. Often found blooming in April and May.
Where to look: meadows, roadside verges, open woodland and grassy banks – especially in areas with low-nutrient soil.
What you can do: sow native wildflower seeds and avoid mowing until after flowering ends. Let parts of your garden grow wild to encourage natural regeneration.
Did you know? Cowslips were once so common they were used to make wine – and they’re a favourite flower for early pollinators!
Layers
Report your sighting
Share your sighting of these seasonal species by completing this form. Once you click the submit button, it can take up to an hour for your sighting to populate the map. You can change your communications preference at any time by contacting us on 01305 264620.
