Looking like a short dandelion, but with a much rounder middle, colt's-foot is a 'weed' of waste ground and field edges that brightens up early spring with its sunshine-yellow…

The striking red twigs and crimson, autumnal leaves of dogwood make this small shrub an attractive ornamental plant. It can be seen growing wild along woodland edges and hedgerows.

The garden tiger is an attractive, brown-and-white moth of sand dunes, woodland edges, meadows and hedgerows; it will also visit gardens. In decline, it is suffering from the 'tidying up…

Groundsel is a 'weed' of cultivated and disturbed ground like field edges, roadside verges and waste ground. It has clusters of yellow flowers that turn fluffy and white as the plant…

The Lawson cypress is a large, conical-shaped, evergreen tree that has been introduced into the UK and widely planted in gardens and parks. It has also naturalised along damp banks and woodland…

So-named for its spear-like leaves, Lesser spearwort can be found along the edges of ponds, lakes and streams, and in marshes and wet meadows. As a buttercup, it displays familiar, butter-yellow…

The black-and-white barnacle goose flies here for the 'warmer' winter from Greenland and Svalbard. This epic journey was once a mystery to people, who thought it hatched from the goose…

The broad centurion, or 'green soldier fly', is one of our most common soldier flies, and is often found in gardens. It has hairy eyes and a metallic blue or bronze body. It is an…

A fierce pirate of the sea, the great skua is renowned for stealing fish from other seabirds and dive-bombing anyone that comes near its nests. It breeds on the Scottish Isles.

Pushing its way up through the cracks in pavements, the straw-coloured flower spikes of greater plantain or 'broadleaf plantain' are a familiar sight. This 'weed' also pops up…