The raven is famous for being the imposing, all-black bird that guards the Tower of London. Wild birds live in forests, and upland and coastal areas in the north and west of the UK.

This small, white heron is an increasingly common sight in parts of the UK as it spreads north from continental Europe.

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

This slim fish is usually found on gravelly parts of the seabed, close to shore, but can turn up in rockpools.

The common green lacewing is a lime green, delicate insect, with translucent, intricately veined wings. It is common in gardens and parks, where it helps to control aphid pests.

With brown-and-orange markings, the drone-fly looks like a male honeybee, but is harmless to us. This mimicry helps to protect it from predators while it searches for nectar in gardens and urban…

Sand sedge is an important feature of our coastal sand dunes, helping to stabilise the dunes, which allows them to grow up and become colonised by other species.

The black poplar is a large tree of floodplains, flooded gravel pits and ditches, particularly in England. Despite being an important part of our culture for centuries, it has declined massively…

The UK's largest native grasshopper is also one of its rarest, found only on wetlands in a few parts of England.