Their empty, delicate pink or yellow shells can often be found washed up on beaches, but the animals themselves live buried in the sand all around the coasts of the UK.

The soft, downy look of Yorkshire-fog makes it an attractive plant, even if it is considered a weed of cultivated land! It is also attractive to the caterpillars of the Small Skipper butterfly as…

Flitting about the house in summer, the gangly, brown daddy longlegs is familiar to many of us. They are a valuable food source for many birds.

As its name suggests, the shaggy inkcap, or 'lawyer's wig', has a woolly, scaly surface to its bell-shaped toadstools. It is very common and can be seen at the road side, in…

A climbing plant of hedgerows and woodlands, Black bryony produces greenish flowers in summer and red, shiny berries in autumn. It is a poisonous plant.

The gatekeeper is on the wing in summer on grasslands, in woodlands and along hedgerows. Look out for the large, distinctive eyespot with two 'pupils' on each forewing.

A climbing plant of hedgerows and woodlands, White bryony produces greenish flowers in summer and red, shiny berries in winter. It is a poisonous plant.

Look for the round, cottony, purple flower heads of the Woolly thistle on chalk and limestone grasslands in summer. It is mainly found in Southern England.

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.

A summer visitor to the UK, the red-tailed redstart is a robin-sized bird that can be spotted in woodlands, parks and hedgerows, mainly in the north and west of the UK.