This slender shark gets its name from the spines in front of its dorsal fin. It can use these spines to defend itself by curling in a bow and striking at a predator.

An attractive, green-and-yellow bird, the siskin regularly visits birdtables and feeders in gardens. Look for the bright yellow barring on its black wings, and the black crown of the males.

The striking red crown, golden back, and bright yellow wings of the goldfinch make it one of our prettiest garden birds. It happily visits birdtables and feeders across the UK.

The once-common pochard is now under threat because its populations are declining rapidly. The UK is an important winter destination for the pochard, with 48,000 birds visiting our wetlands and…

Rare summer visitors, honey buzzards breed in open woodland where they feed on the nests and larvae of bees and wasps.

This bumpy shell lives up to its name and lives partly buried in the seabed along the west coast of Great Britain.

Common cow-wheat is a delicate annual that brightens up the edges of acid woodland and heaths with deep golden flowers in the summer.