The stinging nettle is a familiar and common plant, often firmly rooted in our memories after our first, hands-on experience - a prickling irritation that's not forgotten easily!

A fleshy herb of the wet margins of brooks, streams and ditches, Brooklime can be seen all year-round and provides shelter for tadpoles and sticklebacks.

The wild rock dove is the ancestor to what is probably our most familiar bird - the feral pigeon, which is often found in large numbers in our towns and cities.

Water figwort is a tall plant of riverbanks, pond margins, damp meadows and wet woodlands. Its maroon flowers are pollinated by the Common wasp.

A great way to get up close and personal with the magnificent osprey is via one of the many nestcams set-up in the places that it breeds: Scotland, Cumbria, Wales and the East Midlands.

The delicate, tube-like, violet-blue flowers of Skullcap bloom from June to September in damp places, such as marshes, fens, riverbanks and pond margins.

The tiny, grey-brown house mouse is one of our most successful mammals. It thrives around buildings but is less likely to be found in our houses these days due to better construction.

Standing proud and tall, the red deer is our largest deer. With its massive antlers, it is an unmistakeable icon of the Scottish Highlands, but can be seen in northwest and southern England, too…