Sea lettuce is unmistakeable - most often a bright green and always translucent, it is found on all UK coasts.

The giant house spider is one of our fastest invertebrates, running up to half a metre per second. This large, brown spider spins sheet-like cobwebs and pops up in the dark corners of houses,…

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 slender and elegant shark species is often found close to shore all around our coasts and can grow up to 6 feet long.

In summer, the 'frothy' flowers of lady's bedstraw can carpet the grasses of meadows, heaths and coasts with yellow and fill the air with a sweet, honey-like scent.

Wild carrot does, indeed, smell of carrots, but the roots are not like our cultivated, dinnertime favourite. Look for this umbellifer on chalk grasslands and coasts.

A common and stocky bird of our rocky coasts, the rock pipit can nearly always be seen close to the sea. It is a bit smaller than a starling.

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.

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.