The emperor dragonfly is an impressively large and colourful dragonfly of ponds, lakes, canals and flooded gravel pits. It flies between June and August and even eats its prey on the wing.

Despite appearances, the slow worm is actually a legless lizard, not a worm or a snake! Look out for it basking in the sun on heathlands and grasslands, or even in the garden, where it favours…

Swifts spend most of their lives flying – even sleeping, eating and drinking – only ever landing to nest. They like to nest in older buildings in small holes in roof spaces.

This long-lived bivalve can be found buried in the sand on the south and west coasts of the UK.

Cross-leaved heath is a type of heather that likes bogs, heathland and moorland. It has distinctive pink, bell-shaped flowers that attract all kinds of nectar-loving insects.

A small colourful sea slug that can be found grazing on sea mats on the rocky shore and beyond the low water mark.

Their long narrow shells are a common sight on our shores, especially after storms, but the animals themselves live buried in the sand.

Violet ground beetles are active predators, coming out at night to hunt slugs and other invertebrates in gardens, woodlands and meadows.