The common spotted-orchid is the easiest of all our orchids to see: sometimes, so many flowers appear together that they create a pale pink carpet in our woodlands, old quarries, dunes and marshes…

The UK's smallest hawker, the Hairy dragonfly is mostly black in colour, but has a distinctively hairy thorax. It can be found in grazing marshes and flooded gravel pits, and along canals…

The redshank lives up to its name as it sports distinctive long, bright red legs! It feeds and breeds on marshes, mudflats, mires and saltmarshes. Look out for it posing on a fence post or rock.…

This gentle giant is the largest shark in UK seas, reaching up to 12m in length. There's no need to fear them though, they only eat plankton!

The moon jelly is the most common jellyfish in UK seas, often washing up on our beaches. No need to worry though - it doesn't sting humans.

If you spot a crawling shell next time you're at the seaside, take a closer look… it might be a hermit crab!

The green sandpiper is a very rare breeding bird in the UK, and is mainly seen on migration in autumn. Look out for it feeding around marshes, flooded gravel pits and rivers. It even likes sewage…

Sugar kelp is the crinkly belt like kelp that can often be found in deep rockpools on the lower shore or washed up on the beach after rough seas.

The herring gull is the typical 'seagull' of our seaside resorts, though our coastal populations have declined in recent decades.

As its name suggests, the smooth stems of soft rush are thinner and more flexible than those of hard rush. It forms tufts in wetland habitats like wet woodlands, marshes, ditches and grasslands.…