Our largest and most common bee-fly, the dark-edged bee-fly looks just like a bumblebee, and buzzes like one too! It feeds on flowers like primroses and violets in gardens, parks and woodlands.…

A scrambling plant, Meadow vetchling has yellow flowers. It is a member of the pea family and can be seen on rough grassland, waste ground and roadside verges.

A scrambling plant, Tufted vetch has violet flowers. It is a member of the pea family and can be seen along woodland edges, on scrubland and grassland, and at the coast.

The stinging nettle is a familiar and common plant, often firmly rooted in our memories after our first, hands-on experience - a prickling irritation that's not forgotten easily!

Selfheal is a low-growing, creeping plant that likes the short turf of grasslands, roadside verges or even lawns. Its clusters of violet flowers appear in summer.

Water-plantain is an aquatic plant of shallow water and muddy banks. In bloom over summer, it displays tall branches of loosely clustered, pale lilac flowers.

This purply-brown seaweed is a common feature on our rocky shores and on our dinner plates.

A small and delicate plant of chalk grasslands, Fairy flax can be seen in bloom from May to September - look out for its nodding, white flowers.

Hedge mustard is a tall plant with small, yellow flowers atop tough stems. It likes disturbed ground and grows in hedgerows and roadside verges, and on waste ground.

Arrowhead is an aquatic plant of shallow water and slow-moving waterways. In bloom over summer, it displays small, white flowers, but it is the arrow-shaped leaves that are most distinctive.

Considered to be one of the prettiest gentians, the Chiltern gentian is a rare plant in the UK. It likes chalk grasslands, its purple, trumpet-shaped flowers blooming from August.