Avebury

The Barn Gallery of the Alexander Keiller Museum is home to five species of bat: Natterer's, Pipistrelle, Soprano Pipistrelle, Brown Long-eared, and Serotine.

The bats live in the roof space of the barn, out of view, but you might catch a glimpse of them as they fly in and out at dusk in the summer.

Polecats and brown hares have been seen in the area around Avebury.

Polecats are very wary of humans but they do hunt during the day. Scan the farmland in the area when you visit and you might be lucky enough to spot one.

Windmill Hill has a variety of birds including the Grey partridge, Yellowhammer, Corn bunting, Skylark and Barn owl.

There's nowhere lovelier than Windmill Hill on a sunny summer's day, listening to the skylarks high above. You might also see Barn owls flying here at dusk.

Important plants grow on the banks of the henge, including a hybrid form of the very rare Tuberous thistle, and the Round-headed rampion.

If you find one of the Round-headed rampions, look closely at the colourful flower. You'll be able to see that it isn't a single bloom but a cluster of individual smaller blooms.

Over thousands of years the very hard sarsen stones that make up the circles at Avebury have weathered, providing an ideal home to a variety of lichen colonies.

The patterns that the lichens make on the stones are a favourite subject for photographers.

At this early Neolithic site there is an abundance of chalk grassland plants such as Clustered bellflower and flowering dropwort.

Wander amidst the Bronze Age barrows here to find the Clustered bellflower. In folklore this wildflower was said to grow from the remains of the dead, giving it its 'blood red' stem.

The Old Farmyard at Avebury has a pond opposite the Circle Café. Although small in size it plays a large part in the life of the protected Great crested newt.

Although the newts breed in the pond they spend the summer feeding on earthworms, insects, spiders and slugs in woodland, hedgerows and tussocky grass.