A late-flowering plant, Autumn gentian displays pretty, mauve, tube-like flowers atop its reddish stems. It favours dry, chalk grassland and sand dune habitats.

As its name suggests, giant hogweed it a large umbellifer with distinctively ridged, hollow stems. An introduced species, it is an invasive weed of riverbanks, where it prevents native species…

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 Greater butterfly-orchid is a tall orchid of hay meadows, grasslands and ancient woodlands. It has whitish-green flowers that have spreading petals and sepals - a bit like the wings of a…

The oak marble gall wasp produces brown, marble-shaped growths, or 'galls', on oak twigs. Inside the gall, the larvae of the wasp feed on the host tissues, but cause little damage.

Found around our coasts during the breeding season, the large Sandwich tern can be spotted diving into the sea for fish such as sandeels. It nests in colonies on sand and shingle beaches, and…

Forming mats of straight, bright green stems, Common spike-rush does, indeed, look like lots of tightly clustered 'spikes' near the water's edge of our wetland habitats.

The cormorant is an excellent fisher. It is most easily spotted when it is perched, stretching its wings out in the sun to dry after a dive. The UK holds internationally important wintering…

It’s easy to see where these butterflies get their name – the males have bright orange tips on their wings! See them from early spring through to summer in meadows, woodland and hedges.

Also known as 'Goldmoss' due to its dense, low-growing nature and yellow flowers, Biting stonecrop can be seen on well-drained ground like sand dunes, shingle, grasslands, walls and…

If you happen to be near rocky places such as sea cliffs, shingle coastlines or even gravel paths during the summer months you will most likely come across sea campion.

Dwarf milkwort is a rare plant of chalk and limestone grasslands with short turf; it can mainly be found in Kent, Yorkshire and Cumbria. It has bluish, sometimes pink, flowers atop its short stems…