The much-loved mallard is our most familiar duck, found across town and country. If you're feeding the ducks please don't feed them bread - it's not good for them! Instead, they…

The red admiral is an unmistakable garden visitor. This black-and-red beauty may be seen feeding on flowers on warm days all year-round. Adults are mostly migrants, but some do hibernate here.

The yellow flower heads of common ragwort are highly attractive to bees and other insects, including the cinnabar moth.

The beautiful barn owl is, perhaps, our most-loved owl. With its distinctive heart-shaped face, pure white feathers, and ghostly silent flight, it's easy to identify. Look out for it flying…

As its name suggests, Meadowsweet is a sweet-smelling flower of damp meadows, ditches and riverbanks. Look for frothy clusters of cream flowers on tall stems.

The Speckled bush-cricket, as its name suggests, is covered in tiny, black speckles. It can be found in scrub, hedgerows and gardens throughout summer. Males rub their wings together to create a…

The pink, frayed flowers of Ragged-robin are an increasingly rare sight as our wild wetland habitats disappear. You can help: grow native plants in your garden and enjoy the hum of visiting…

The large white is a common garden visitor - look out for its brilliant white wings, tipped with black.

A 'weed' of cultivated and disturbed ground, Round-leaved fluellen is a trailing plant with round leaves and yellow flowers that appear over summer.

If you spot a crawling shell next time you're at the seaside, take a closer look… it might be a hermit crab!

Perhaps the first sign that spring is just around the corner is the snowdrop poking its way through the frosted soil of a woodland, churchyard or garden. From January, look for its famous nodding…