The wolf spider can be found in a wide range of habitats, including the garden. It hunts down its prey, leaping on it just like a wolf. Spiders are beneficial neighbours, helping to manage garden…

As its name suggests, Himalayan balsam is from the Himalayas and was introduced here in 1839. It now an invasive weed of riverbanks and ditches, where it prevents native species from growing.

Once a rare visitor to the UK, this striking gull is now found nesting here in large colonies.

The loud 'peep-ing' call of an oystercatcher is a recognisable and familiar sound of the seashore. Look out for it hunting on rocky and muddy shores for shellfish to eat. It can also be…

As its name suggests, giant hogweed it a large umbellifer with distinctively ridged, hollow stems. An introduced species, it is an invasive weed of riverbanks, where it prevents native species…

Also known as the two-coloured mason bee, this beautiful bee is famous for nesting in old snail shells.

The turnstone can be spotted fluttering around large stones on rocky and gravelly shores, flipping them over to look for prey. It can even lift rocks as big as its own body! Although a migrant to…

A stocky, little sandpiper, the knot can be spotted in estuaries from August onwards, migrating here from the Arctic where it breeds. Look out for it probing the muddy sand with its specialised…

This small finch nests on moorlands and coastal crofts, spending the winter on the coast. The UK population has declined dramatically.

Introduced from Japan in the 19th century, Japanese knotweed is now an invasive non-native plant of many riverbanks, waste grounds and roadside verges, where it prevents native species from…

Rare summer visitors, honey buzzards breed in open woodland where they feed on the nests and larvae of bees and wasps.