A winter visitor, the well-travelled Bewick's swan is the smallest of our swans. It has more black on its yellow-and-black bill than the whooper swan. Look out for it around Eastern England…

From grunts and groans, to 'purring' and 'piglet squealing', the water rail is more often heard than it is seen! This shy bird lives in reedbeds and wetlands, hiding among the…

Looking a bit like a ragged version of a dandelion, mouse-ear hawkweed has lemon-yellow flower heads that are tinged with red at their outer edges. It likes grassy places with short turf and…

This black and grey solitary bee takes to the wing in spring, when it can be seen buzzing around burrows in open ground.

The small white is a common garden visitor. It is smaller than the similar large white, and has less black on its wingtips.

Wasps are well-known, and unfortunately not very well-loved! But give these black and yellow guys a chance, as they are important pollinators and pest controllers.

The once-common pochard is now under threat because its populations are declining rapidly. The UK is an important winter destination for the pochard, with 48,000 birds visiting our wetlands and…

Weasels may look adorable, but they make light work of eating voles, mice and birds! They are related to otters and stoats, which is obvious thanks to their long slender bodies and short legs.

A familiar black bird of our lakes, ponds and rivers, the moorhen is widespread; look out for its large and untidy-looking nest on the water in spring. It can be distinguished from the similar…

Reed sweet-grass is a towering grass with large, loose flower heads that can be found on marshy ground near rivers, streams and ponds. It can become invasive, but does shelter various aquatic…