Water figwort is a tall plant of riverbanks, pond margins, damp meadows and wet woodlands. Its maroon flowers are pollinated by the Common wasp.

These winter visitors are close relatives of the chaffinch and can often be found in the same flocks, where their white rump and nasal calls give them away.

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.

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.

Look for the small, white, star-shaped flowers of Common chickweed all year-round. Sometimes considered a 'weed', it is still a valuable food source for insects.

The garden tiger is an attractive, brown-and-white moth of sand dunes, woodland edges, meadows and hedgerows; it will also visit gardens. In decline, it is suffering from the 'tidying up…

The wayfaring-tree is a small tree of hedgerows, woods, scrub and downland. It displays creamy-white flowers in spring and red berries in autumn, which ripen to black and are very poisonous.

A tall plant, purple-loosestrife can form dense stands of bright purple flower spikes in wet habitats like reedbeds, fens and marshes.