Common sea-lavender can be found around our coasts on mudflats, creek banks and saltmarshes. Despite its name, its not a lavender at all, so doesn’t smell like one.

Also known as the brown crab, this large crab is found around all UK shores and is identifiable by the distinctive pie-crust edge to its brown shell.

Once widespread, this attractive plant has declined as a result of modern agricultural practices and is now only found in four sites in South East England.

The tiny firecrest vies with the goldcrest for the title of the UK's smallest bird. Once just a visitor, the firecrest can now be found breeding in woodlands in the south of England.

The bearded tit is an unmistakable cinnamon-coloured bird of reedbeds in the south, east and north-west of England. Males actually sport a black 'moustache', rather than a beard!

The song of the Roesel's bush-cricket is very characteristic: long, monotonous and mechanical. It can be heard in rough grassland, scrub and damp meadows in the south of the UK, but it is…

The common darter is a red, narrow-bodied dragonfly that can be seen throughout summer and autumn. It is hovers around all kinds of waterbodies, darting out to surprise its prey.