Look for the pinky-white flowers of the dog-rose in summer, and its bright red rosehips in autumn. It is a scrambling shrub of hedgerows, woodlands and grasslands.

The stately grass-of-parnassus displays pretty, white flowers with green stripes. Once widespread, it is now declining as its wetland habitats are disappearing.

This common hoverfly is often seen visiting flowers. It's named for its stripy thorax, which looks a bit like a football shirt.

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…

Swifts spend most of their lives flying – even sleeping, eating and drinking – only ever landing to nest. They like to nest in older buildings in small holes in roof spaces.

The herring gull is the typical 'seagull' of our seaside resorts, though our coastal populations have declined in recent decades.

The bonnet-shaped, violet-blue flowers of Columbine can be spotted in damp areas in woodlands and in fens. It is also an attractive and much-loved garden plant.

One of our most familiar spring flowers, the cowslip brightens up ancient meadows and woodlands with its egg-yolk-yellow, nodding blooms.

The Yellow star-of-Bethlehem is a woodland plant that lives up to its name - it displays starry, gold flowers in an umbrella-like cluster in early spring.

Water figwort is a tall plant of riverbanks, pond margins, damp meadows and wet woodlands. Its maroon flowers are pollinated by the Common wasp.