Their long narrow shells are a common sight on our shores, especially after storms, but the animals themselves live buried in the sand.

Wavy hair-grass lives up to its name: its fine, hair-like leaves and delicate flower heads can be seen shaking in the breeze of a windswept moorland or heathland.

This sponge is found on rocky shores around the UK and looks like a thick bready crust (if you use your imagination a bit!).

This sea snail is abundant on rocky shores around the UK. It is an active predator, feasting on mussels and barnacles before retreating to crevices to rest.

This stunning hermit crab has only returned to our southern shores in recent years. Let us hope it stays for good this time!

The stiff, spiky and upright leaves and brown flowers of hard rush are a familiar sight of wetlands, riversides, dune slacks and marshes across England and Wales.

The Marsh helleborine is a beautiful orchid of fens, wet grassland and dune slacks. Growing in profusion in places, look for reddish stems and white-and-pink flowers.

Red squirrels are native to the UK but are a lot rarer than their grey cousins. They live in a few special places across the UK thanks to reintroduction projects.