Soft brome is a tall, annual grass of roadside verges, waste ground and meadows, and is a 'weed' of arable land. It has long, grey-green leaves and loosely clustered flower spikes.

The whooper swan is a very rare breeding bird in the UK, but has much larger populations that spend winter here after a long journey from Iceland. It has more yellow on its yellow-and-black bill…

Brush through a wildflower meadow at the height of summer and you'll hear the tiny seeds of yellow-rattle rattling in their brown pods, hence its name.

Look for the wood warbler singing from the canopy of oak woodlands in the north and west of the UK. Green above, it has a distinctive, bright yellow throat and eyestripe.

The Arctic tern is famed for its aggression towards any that would disturb its nest - it will dive-bomb intruders with its sharp beak. Large, noisy colonies can be found on the Farne Islands and…