Found around our coasts during the breeding season, the little tern is a diminutive seabird. Despite its size, it performs remarkable aerial courtship displays.

The stonechat is named for its call, which sounds just like two small stones being hit together! It can be seen on heathland and boggy habitats.

Considered to be one of the prettiest gentians, the Chiltern gentian is a rare plant in the UK. It likes chalk grasslands, its purple, trumpet-shaped flowers blooming from August.

The early gentian is a rare plant that is only found in the UK. It likes sunny, lowland chalk grasslands, its purple, trumpet-shaped flowers blooming in May and June.

With black-and-yellow markings, the hornet mimic hoverfly looks like its namesake, but is harmless to us. This mimicry helps to protect it from predators while it searches for nectar.

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 White-clawed crayfish is a freshwater, bronze-coloured crustacean with pale undersides to its claws - hence the name. It is under threat from an invasive and introduced species of crayfish.…

A common tree, ash is familiar to many of us for its autumnal bunches of winged seeds, called 'keys'. It can be found in woodlands and prefers damp and fertile soils.

Buddleia is a familiar shrub, well-known for its attractiveness to butterflies. It is actually an introduced species, however, that has become naturalised on waste ground, railway cuttings and in…

Famed for its tapping in the middle of the night, supposedly heralding tragedy, the Deathwatch beetle is a serious wood-boring pest. In houses, their tunnelling can cause major damage.

With its familiar features, the Field pansy is a delicate version of a garden favourite. Usually creamy-yellow in colour, it can be seen in fields and on roadside verges and waste ground.

The green-veined white is a common butterfly of hedgerows, woodlands, gardens and parks. It is similar to other white butterflies, but has prominent green stripes on the undersides of its wings.…