The common green lacewing is a lime green, delicate insect, with translucent, intricately veined wings. It is common in gardens and parks, where it helps to control aphid pests.

The Yew is a well-known tree of churchyards, but also grows wild on chalky soils. Yew trees can live for hundreds of years, turning into a maze of hollow wood and fallen trunks beneath dense…

Also known as the flat topshell, these are one of the most common and colourful sea snails you are likely to see when out on a rockpool safari!

It's easy to see where this stunning bivalve got its name from - the bright orange tentacles emerging from the shell really do look like flames!

There are several species of spider that live in our wetlands, but the water spider is the only one that spends its life under the water. In its pond habitats, it looks silvery because of the air…

Listen out for the 'drumming' sound of a male snipe as it performs its aerial courtship display. It's not a call, but actually its tail feathers beating in the wind. Snipe live on…

Brush through a wildflower meadow at the height of summer and you'll hear the tiny seeds of yellow-rattle rattling in their brown pods, hence its name.

As its name suggests, Himalayan balsam is from the Himalayas and was introduced here in 1839. It now an invasive weed of riverbanks and ditches, where it prevents native species from growing.