The spiked shieldbug has fearsome shoulder projections or 'spikes' and a predatory nature. This brown bug feeds on caterpillars and other insects in woodlands and on heathlands.

A scarce but distinctive brown seaweed with curved, funnel-shaped fronds. It is a warmer water species at the northern edge of its range on the south coast of England.

With ginger hairs, dark banding and a cream tail, the Narcissus bulb fly looks like a bumble bee, but is harmless to us. This mimicry helps to protect it from predators while it searches for…

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.

A small woodland and hedgerow tree, Spindle is most striking in the autumn when clusters of bright pink-and-orange berries hang from its twigs, providing food for mice, birds and even Red Foxes.…

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…