Their empty, delicate pink or yellow shells can often be found washed up on beaches, but the animals themselves live buried in the sand all around the coasts of the UK.

Dittander is a herb of coastal saltmarshes and damp ground. Its waxy leaves and long roots help it to survive in this harsh environment. Due to its peppery taste, it has also become a popular…

The fluffy, white heads of common cotton-grass dot our brown, boggy moors and heaths as if a giant bag of cotton wool balls has been thrown across the landscape!

Bell heather is our most familiar heather. In summer, it carpets our heaths, woods and coasts with purple-pink flowers that attract all kinds of nectar-loving insects.

The eerie, 'cur-lee' call of the curlew is a familiar sound of wet grasslands, moorlands, farmland and coasts. Its unmistakeable long, downcurved bill is perfect for probing the mud for…

A pretty, little gull, the kittiwake can be spotted nesting in colonies on clifftops and rock ledges around the UK's coast. It spends the winter out at sea.

A scarce but distinctive brown seaweed with curved, funnel-shaped fronds. It is a warmer water species at the northern edge of its range on the south coast of England.

As its name suggests, Sea spurge is found at the coast. It is an attractive plant that displays cup-shaped, greeny-yellow flowers and fleshy, grey-green leaves.

Kissing under the mistletoe is a much-loved Christmas tradition, making this plant familiar to us all. It actually grows as a parasite on trees - look for it hanging off branches in large balls…

Known in America as the 'Eared Grebe' because of its golden ear tufts, the black-necked grebe is a rare nesting bird in the UK. It is easiest to spot around southern coasts in winter.…

A scrambling plant, Common vetch has pink flowers. It is a member of the pea family and can be seen on grassland, farmland and waste ground, as well as at the coast.