Black-and-yellow longhorn beetle
This brightly-coloured beetle is often found feeding on flowers on warm days in late spring and summer.
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Chwilio
Knot grass
A common moth across most of the UK. The large, hairy caterpillars are often seen in late summer.
Bar-tailed godwit
The bar-tailed godwit winters in the UK in the thousands; look for it around estuaries like the Thames and Humber. In spring, the males display arresting breeding plumage, with brick-red heads,…
Botanist volunteers
Use your botany skills to help us assess the condition of our nature reserves this summer.
Pill woodlouse
The defensive mechanism of the pill woodlouse is very recognisable - it curls itself into a tight ball, only showing its plated armour to its attacker. It is an important recycler of nutrients,…
Ring ouzel
The blackbird of the mountains, ring ouzels can be found breeding on upland moors and rocky crags in summer.
Great black-backed gull
This huge gull can be seen around most of the UK's coasts in summer, with some venturing inland in winter.
Heathland and moorland
These wild, open landscapes stretch over large areas and are most often found in uplands. Although slow to awaken in spring, by late summer heathland can be an eye-catching purple haze of heather…
Sand dunes
Sand dunes are places of constant change and movement. Wander through them on warm summer days for orchids, bees and other wildlife, or experience the forces of nature behind their creation - the…
Honey buzzard
Rare summer visitors, honey buzzards breed in open woodland where they feed on the nests and larvae of bees and wasps.
Porbeagle shark
The porbeagle shark is a member of the shark family Lamnidae, making it one of the closest living relatives of the great white shark.
Common cow-wheat
Common cow-wheat is a delicate annual that brightens up the edges of acid woodland and heaths with deep golden flowers in the summer.