It's easy to see where the blue shark got its name from. These sleek, elegant sharks have beautiful metallic blue backs which provide brilliant camouflage out in the open ocean.

The Great diving beetle is a large and voracious predator of ponds and slow-moving waterways. Blackish-green in colour, it can be spotted coming to the surface to replenish the air supply it…

Look out for a common lizard basking in the warm sun as you wander around heathlands, moorlands and grasslands. You might even be lucky enough to spot one in your garden, too!

Look out for the Daubenton's bat foraging over wetlands across the UK at twilight. Its flight is fast and agile as it skims the water's surface for insect-prey.

Known for its bandit-like appearance, the polecat was once so persecuted it was on the brink of extinction in the UK. Thankfully, numbers are now increasing in rural Wales and parts of England.…

With ginger hairs, dark banding and a cream tail, the Narcissus bulb fly looks like a bumble bee, but is harmless to us. This mimicry helps to protect it from predators while it searches for…

The male black grouse, or 'blackcock', is famed for its display behaviour, known as 'lekking'. A sight to behold, it fans out its tail and struts its stuff to show its…

These non-native limpets arrived from America in the 19th century and are now widespread in the UK. They form stacks and have a specially adapted shell which, when flipped upside down, looks like…

The orange ladybird is pale orange with up to 16 cream spots on its wing cases. It feeds on mildew on trees like sycamore and ash, and hibernates in the leaf litter. It often turns up in moth…

Despite its warts and ancient associations with witches, the common toad is a gardener's friend, sucking up slugs and snails. It is famous for migrating en masse to its breeding ponds.