The fluffy, white heads of common cotton-grass dot our brown, boggy moors and heaths as if a giant bag of cotton wool balls has been thrown across the landscape!

Kissing under the mistletoe is a much-loved Christmas tradition, making this plant familiar to us all. It actually grows as a parasite on trees - look for it hanging off branches in large balls…

A medium-sized diving duck, the goldeneye can mainly be spotted in winter when birds fly in from Northern Europe. Conservation efforts have helped small numbers of these birds to nest in Scotland…

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.

This dashing diving duck is a winter visitor to the UK's seas, coastal lakes and occasionally inland water bodies.

These distinctive beetles are often found around dead birds and small mammals.

An uncommon tree of wet woodlands, riverbanks and heathlands, alder buckthorn displays pale green flowers in spring, and red berries that turn purple in autumn.

An uncommon hedgerow and woodland tree of central and eastern England, purging buckthorn displays yellow-green flowers in spring, and poisonous, black berries in autumn.

A climbing plant of hedgerows and woodlands, white bryony produces greenish flowers from late spring and shiny, red berries from late summer.