The common cockle is a traditional seaside favourite, both for its white shells often found in the sand and for the yummy snack of cockles doused in malt vinegar.

The shells of this small scallop are often found washed up on our shores and comes in lots of different colours, including pink, red, orange and purple.!

A summer visitor, the wheatear is a handsome chat, with black cheeks, white eyestripes, a blue back and a pale orange chest. Look for it on upland heaths and moors.

This sponge is found on rocky shores around the UK and looks like a thick bready crust (if you use your imagination a bit!).

With black-and-yellow markings, the hornet mimic hoverfly looks like its namesake, but is harmless to us. This mimicry helps to protect it from predators while it searches for nectar.

Considered a gardener’s best friend, hedgehogs will happily hoover up insects roaming in vegetable beds. Famously covered in spines, hedgehogs like to eat all sorts of bugs and crunchy beetles.…

With brown-and-orange markings, the Drone-fly looks like a male Honeybee, but is harmless to us. This mimicry helps to protect it from predators while it searches for nectar in gardens and urban…

The song thrush is a familiar garden visitor that has a beautiful and loud song. The broken shells of their blue, spotty eggs can often be found under a hedge in spring.

Their empty, delicate pink or yellow shells can often be found washed up on beaches, but the animals themselves live buried in the sand all around the coasts of the UK.

The peppered moth is renowned for its markings that have evolved to camouflage it against lichen in the countryside and soot in the city. It can be seen in gardens, woods and parks, and along…

The pied wagtail is a familiar bird across town and countryside. Its black-and-white markings and long, wagging tail make it easy to identify as it hops across the road or lawn.

An easily overlooked orchid, the Common twayblade is yellow-green and less showy than other UK orchids. Look for it in woodlands and grasslands on chalky soils, in particular.