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…

This hefty diving bird is a winter visitor to the UK, where it can be seen around the coast or occasionally on large inland lakes.

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

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…

When spotting the pintail in winter, look out for the fabulous, long tail feathers that characterise it. This dabbling duck feeds at the water's surface, rather than diving for food.

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.