This dazzling dragonfly, also known as the blue-eyed hawker, is a recent arrival to Britain.

Yellow corydalis is a familiar 'weed' of gardens, walls and rocky places. It is a garden escapee in the UK, so is not a native plant. Try choosing natives for your garden to prevent…

This beautiful bumblebee favours upland areas, but has declined in recent decades and is now nationally scarce.

This glossy wading bird is a scarce visitor to the UK, though records have become more common in recent decades.

As its name suggests, Himalayan balsam is from the Himalayas and was introduced here in 1839. It now an invasive weed of riverbanks and ditches, where it prevents native species from growing.

Sphagnum mosses carpet the ground with colour on our marshes, heaths and moors. They play a vital role in the creation of peat bogs: by storing water in their spongy forms, they prevent the decay…

The herring gull is the typical 'seagull' of our seaside resorts, though our coastal populations have declined in recent decades.