The ptarmigan is a master of disguise - matching its Highland surroundings perfectly by turning snow-white in winter and rock-grey in summer. It is confined to the mountains of Scotland, so is…

You are likely to spot the smooth newt in your garden or local pond. It breeds in water in summer and spends the rest of the year in grassland and woodland, hibernating over winter.

Wild privet is a shrub of hedgerows, woodlands and scrub, but is also a popular garden-hedge plant. It has white flowers in summer and matt-black berries in winter that are very poisonous.

A pale member of the violet family sometimes known as ‘milk violet’, the fen violet has a delicate and unassuming appearance. A real specialist of the wetland habitat, this species has seen a…

This smelly, strange looking fungus is also referred to as octopus stinkhorn or octopus fungus. Its eye-catching red tentacles splay out like a starfish.

This stocky, brown mammal spends its life burrowing underground with its spade-like paws, hunting for earthworms to eat.