Our smallest breeding seabird, the storm petrel is barely larger than a house martin! They mostly nest among rocks or in burrows on small offshore islands.

The European larch was introduced into the UK from Central Europe in the 17th century. Unusually for a conifer, it is deciduous and displays small, greeny-red cones on brittle twigs.

The rare Slavonian grebe is an attractive diving bird with distinctive, golden ear tufts that give rise to its American name - 'horned grebe'.

A fierce predator of small fish and flying insects, the brown trout is widespread in our freshwater rivers. It is has a golden body, flanked with pale-ringed, dark spots.

This unusual fly ambushes bees, laying eggs inside of them.

The rare heath fritillary was on the brink of extinction in the 1970s, but conservation action turned its fortunes around. It is still confined to a small number of sites in the south of England,…

Despite its name, the large blue is a fairly small butterfly, but the largest of our blues. It was declared extinct in 1979, but reintroduced in the 1980s and now survives in southern England.

The ringlet gets its name from the small rings on the undersides of its wings. These rings show variation in the different forms of this species, even elongating into a teardrop shape.

Look out for the swift-like shape of the hobby as it darts over heathlands and wetlands in summer. They are keen hunters, chasing and catching fast-flying dragonflies and small birds on the wing…