Look for the Yellow water-lily in still and slow-moving water, such as ponds, ditches, lakes and canals. Its lily pads and cupped, yellow flowers float at the water's surface.

A much-loved garden bird, the blackbird is famous for its harmonious song. In winter, our resident birds are joined by migrants from Scandinavia and the Baltics.

The Welsh poppy is a plant of damp and shady places, roadsides and hillsides. It is also a garden escapee. It flowers over summer, attracting nectar-loving insects.

Sea-buckthorn is a spiny, thicket-forming shrub of sand dunes. It's native to the east coast of England but considered an invasive species elsewhere. It is most obvious in autumn when it is…

The jackdaw is a small, black-capped crow of woodlands, parks, towns and coast. It is a well-known thief, stealing other birds' eggs and breaking into garden feeders.

Red squirrels are native to the UK but are a lot rarer than their grey cousins. They live in a few special places across the UK thanks to reintroduction projects.

The Banded demoiselle can be seen flitting around slow-moving rivers, ponds and lakes. The males are metallic blue, with a distinctive dark band across their wings, and the females are a shiny…

The common pond skater can be seen 'skating' over the surface of ponds, lakes, ditches and slow-moving rivers. It is predatory, feeding on small insects by detecting vibrations in the…

Creeping buttercup is our most familiar buttercup - the buttery-yellow flowers are like little drops of sunshine peppering garden lawns, parks, woods and fields.