This hefty diving bird is a winter visitor to the UK, where it can be seen around the coast or occasionally on large inland lakes.

The lightbulb sea squirt is common around much of the UK. Its easy to see where its name came from!

This dainty white butterfly is now only found in a few parts of Britain, where it flutters slowly through woodland clearings.

This stocky wader is mostly a winter visitor to the UK, where it can be found on rocky, seaweed-covered coasts, often with groups of turnstones.

This small reddish-purple seaweed grows in small branching fans on rocky shores. It is widely used in the food industry - and might have been used to produce your ice cream, beer or even jelly!…

The noble chafer is a rare and beautiful metallic-green beetle that can be found in traditional orchards. It is on the wing over summer, feeding on umbellifers. The larvae live in the decaying…

The river lamprey is a primitive, jawless fish, with a round, sucker-mouth which it uses to attach to other fish to feed from them. Adults live in the sea and return to freshwater to spawn.

This large, brown beetle can be seen swarming around streetlights in spring. They live underground as larvae for years and emerge as adults often in large numbers. Listen for their characteristic…

The rare natterjack toad is found at just a few coastal locations, where it prefers shallow pools on sand dunes, heaths and marshes.

The beautiful pink and white bands of a Painted topshell make it easy to see where this little sea snail got its name!