A ferocious and agile predator, the green tiger beetle hunts spiders, ants and caterpillars on heaths, grasslands and sand dunes. It is one of our fastest insects and a dazzling metallic green…

Toadflax-leaved St John's-wort has star-shaped, bright yellow flowers. It is a rare plant, with most of its population existing on Dartmoor. It likes steep, sunny slopes, acidic soils and…

A key species in the story of conservation, the avocet represents an amazing recovery of a bird once extinct in the UK. This pied bird, with its distinctive upturned bill, can now be seen on…

At nearly 7 cm long (including the female's long ovipositor), the Great green bush-cricket certainly lives up to its name! It can be found in grassland, scrub and woodland rides in Southern…

The pyramidal orchid lives up to its name - look for a bright pinky-purple, densely packed pyramid of flowers atop a green stem. It likes chalk grassland, sand dunes, roadside verges and quarries…

The white-fronted goose lives up to its name - look out for the white patch on its forehead and around its bill. It does not breed in the UK, but flies here from Greenland and Siberia for the…

The violet click beetle is a very rare beetle that lives in decaying wood, particularly common beech and ash. It gets its name from its habit of springing upwards with an audible click if it falls…

This slender shark gets its name from the spines in front of its dorsal fin. It can use these spines to defend itself by curling in a bow and striking at a predator.

This bumpy shell lives up to its name and lives partly buried in the seabed along the west coast of Great Britain.