The UK's smallest hawker, the hairy dragonfly is mostly black in colour, but has a distinctively hairy thorax. It can be found in grazing marshes and flooded gravel pits, and along canals…

The migrant hawker is not a particularly aggressive species, and may be seen feeding in large groups. It flies late into autumn and can be seen in gardens, grasslands and woodlands.

Enchanter's nightshade is a hairy plant, with rounded leaves that taper to a fine tip, and clusters of small, pinky-white flowers in summer.

As its name suggests, the smooth stems of soft rush are thinner and more flexible than those of hard rush. It forms tufts in wetland habitats like wet woodlands, marshes, ditches and grasslands.…

The large, sunshine-yellow flowers of the yellow iris brighten up the margins of our waterways, ponds, wet woods, fens and marshes. Also called the 'flag iris', its outer petals have a…

Our largest shieldbug, the red-and-green hawthorn shieldbug can be seen in gardens, parks and woodlands, feeding on hawthorn, rowan and whitebeam. The adults hibernate over winter.

A key species in the story of conservation, the avocet represents an amazing recovery of a bird once extinct in the UK. This pied bird, with its distinctive upturned bill, can now be seen on…

Listen out for the 'drumming' sound of a male snipe as it performs its aerial courtship display. It's not a call, but actually its tail feathers beating in the wind. Snipe live on…

A 'weed' of cultivated and disturbed ground, Round-leaved fluellen is a trailing plant with round leaves and yellow flowers that appear over summer.

The brown long-eared bat certainly lives up to its name: its ears are nearly as long as its body! Look out for it feeding along hedgerows, and in gardens and woodland.