The London plane tree is, as its name suggests, a familiar sight along the roadsides and in the parks of London. An introduced and widely planted species, it is tough enough to put up with city…

Related to the massive albatross, the fulmar is a gull-like bird that nests on rocky cliff edges. Don't get too close, though - it spits a foul-smelling oil at intruders.

A great way to get up close and personal with the magnificent osprey is via one of the many nestcams set-up in the places that it breeds: Scotland, Cumbria, Wales and the East Midlands.

The Atlantic salmon spends most of its life at sea, but makes an epic journey back to the river or stream in which it hatched to spawn. Look out for it in freshwater rivers in the north and west…

The red admiral is an unmistakable garden visitor. This black-and-red beauty may be seen feeding on flowers on warm days all year-round. Adults are mostly migrants, but some do hibernate here.

Cushions of clover-like, pink Thrift are a familiar sight of cliffs, shingle beaches and sand dunes around the UK. Also known as 'Cliff Clover', it makes a good garden plant.

Sea potatoes may have a funny name, but they are perfectly adapted for life in the sand. They are a type of sea urchin that live in a burrow in the sand, feeding on dead animals and plants using…

A strikingly beautiful fish, it is not hard to see where the ‘red’ mullet gets its name from!

The common polypody is a hardy fern of damp, shady places in woodlands. It also makes a good garden fern. It has ladder-like, leathery foliage with pimply undersides - these spots are the spores…

Common mouse-ear is a persistent 'weed' of fields and gardens, verges and hedgerows - all kinds of habitats. But, like many of our weed species, it is still a good food source for…