Living up to its name the Common blue damselfly is both very common and very blue. It regularly visits gardens - try digging a wildlife-friendly pond to attract damselflies and dragonflies.

The song thrush is a familiar garden visitor that has a beautiful and loud song. The broken shells of their blue, spotty eggs can often be found under a hedge in spring.

The broad-bordered bee hawk-moth does, indeed, look like a bee! A scarce moth, mainly of Central and Southern England, it feeds on the wing and can be seen during spring and summer.

The pied flycatcher is a summer visitor, migrating here from West Africa to breed. Look for this small, black-and-white bird in woodland, parks and gardens, mostly in the west of the UK.

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

The tiny wren, with its typically cocked tail, is a welcome and common visitor to gardens across town and countryside. It builds its domed nests in sheltered bushes and rock crevices.

The redwing is a winter visitor, enjoying the feast of seasonal berries the UK's hedgerows, gardens and parks have to offer. Look out for the distinctive orangey-red patches under its wings…

The easiest way to find out if the nocturnal and well-camouflaged nightjar is about is to listen out for its distinctive 'churring' call at dusk. A summer visitor, it is most numerous in…

An uncommon hedgerow and woodland tree of central and eastern England, Purging buckthorn displays yellow-green flowers in spring, and poisonous, black berries in autumn.