Traditionally a coastal species, Lesser sea-spurrey has spread inland, taking advantage of the winter-salting of our roads. Its pink-and-white flowers bloom in summer.

A sprawling plant, wild liquorice often has large, kinked stems. It favours woodland, scrub and grassland habitats on chalky soils - look for pea-like flowers and pods. This liquorice is not…

Herb-Paris has four oval leaves set in a cross, with an understated crown of yellow-green flowers rising from the middle. This makes it quite a distinctive plant of ancient and damp woodlands on…

Looking a bit like a ragged version of a dandelion, mouse-ear hawkweed has lemon-yellow flower heads that are tinged with red at their outer edges. It likes grassy places with short turf and…

The yew is a well-known tree of churchyards, but also grows wild on chalky soils. Yew trees can live for hundreds of years, turning into a maze of hollow wood and fallen trunks beneath dense…

Toadflax-leaved St John's-wort has star-shaped, bright yellow flowers. It is a rare plant, with most of its population existing on Dartmoor. It likes steep, sunny slopes, acidic soils and…

Their long narrow shells are a common sight on our shores, especially after storms, but the animals themselves live buried in the sand.

A spindly tree of heathland and moorlands, and damp soils, the downy birch is well known for its paper-thin, white bark. It is so-called for the hairy stalks from which its leaves grow; the silver…

Brush through a wildflower meadow at the height of summer and you'll hear the tiny seeds of yellow-rattle rattling in their brown pods, hence its name.

A summer visitor, the wheatear is a handsome chat, with black cheeks, white eyestripes, a blue back and a pale orange chest. Look for it on upland heaths and moors.