One of the prettiest hardy ferns, the lady fern is delicate and lacy, with ladder-like foliage. It makes a good garden fern, providing attractive cover for wildlife.

A prickly, tall plant, the Small teasel is closely related to the Common teasel, but has much smaller, more rounded flower heads. It prefers damp, open woodlands.

The aromatic fragrance of Large thyme can punctuate a summer walk over a chalk grassland. It is an evergreen that grows low to the ground, with erect spikes of tiny, lilac flowers appearing over…

With club-shaped leaflets on its fronds, wall-rue is easy to spot as it grows out of crevices in walls. Plant it in your garden rockery to provide cover for insects.

The much-loved mallard is our most familiar duck, found across town and country. If you're feeding the ducks please don't feed them bread - it's not good for them! Instead, they…

The nursehound is a nocturnal predator, hunting smaller fish close to the seafloor.

A clever mimic, the wasp beetle is black-and-yellow and moves in a jerky, flight-like fashion - fooling predators into thinking it is actually a more harmful common wasp. Look for it in hedgerows…

The yellow flower heads of common ragwort are highly attractive to bees and other insects, including the cinnabar moth.