Flowering rush is a pretty rush-like plant of shallow wetland habitats, such as ponds, canals and ditches. Its cup-shaped, pink flowers appear in summer, brightening up the water's edge.

Common cow-wheat is a delicate annual that brightens up the edges of acid woodland and heaths with deep golden flowers in the summer.

Our most common hoverfly, the marmalade fly is orange with black bands across its body. It feeds on flowers like tansy, ragwort and cow parsley in gardens, hedgerows, parks and woodlands.

The London plane tree is, as its name suggests, a familiar sight along the roadsides and in the parks of London. An introduced and widely planted species, it is tough enough to put up with city…

Once widespread, this attractive plant has declined as a result of modern agricultural practices and is now only found in four sites in South East England.