A rare breeder in the UK, this sooty-coloured bird is as at home on an industrial site as it is on a rocky cliff face.

This streaky brown bird is a summer visitor to Britain, favouring open woodlands in the north and west.

The St Mark's fly is small, black and shiny. It is so-called because it emerges around St Mark's Day, April 25th. Large numbers of adults can be found in woodland edges, hedgerows,…

Flitting about the house in summer, the gangly, brown daddy longlegs is familiar to many of us. They are a valuable food source for many birds.

A delicate wader, Red-necked phalaropes are as comfortable swimming as they are on land. Unusually for birds, the females are more brightly coloured than the males.

There are several species of spider that live in our wetlands, but the water spider is the only one that spends its life under the water. In its pond habitats, it looks silvery because of the air…

Known as the phantom of the forest, goshawks can fly through the trees at up to 40km per hour as they hunt birds and small mammals.

This elegant wading bird is a rare visitor to the UK, though occasionally one or two of pairs will nest here.