The laughing 'yaffle' call of the green woodpecker can be heard in our woodlands, parks and gardens. Look out for it hopping about your lawn, searching for ants to eat.

The secretive woodlark can be hard to spot. It nests on the ground on our southern heathlands and uses scattered trees and woodland edges for lookout posts.

The jay is a colourful member of the crow family, with brilliant blue wing patches. It is famous for searching out acorns in autumnal woodlands and parks, often storing them for the winter ahead…

The common octopus is a highly intelligent, active predator. It even has a secret weapon - special glands produce a venom that it uses to incapacitate its prey!

The 'drumming' of a great spotted woodpecker is a familiar sound of our woodlands, parks and gardens. It is a form of communication and is mostly used to mark territories and to display…

Small-spotted catsharks used to be called lesser-spotted dogfish - which might be what you know them best as. It's the same shark, just a different name!

A diminutive but aggressive predator, the three-spined stickleback hunts tadpoles and small fish. It is also known for fiercely protecting its nest of eggs until they hatch. Look for it in ponds,…

The black garden ant is the familiar and abundant small ant that lives in gardens, but also turns up indoors searching for sugary food. In summer, winged adults, or 'flying ants', swarm…

Often found carpeting damp grassland and woodland clearings, the blue flower spikes of bugle are very recognisable. A short, creeping plant, it spreads using runners.

A familiar 'weed' of gardens, roadsides, meadows and parks, red clover has trefoil leaves and red, rounded flower heads. It is often used as fodder for livestock.

Living up to its name, the shoveler has a large and distinctive shovel-like bill which it uses to feed at the surface of the water. It breeds in small numbers in the UK, but is widespread in…