Sea lettuce is unmistakeable - most often a bright green and always translucent, it is found on all UK coasts.

As its name suggests, Sea spurge is found at the coast. It is an attractive plant that displays cup-shaped, greeny-yellow flowers and fleshy, grey-green leaves.

The Early purple orchid is one of the first orchids to pop up in spring. Look for its pinkish-purple flowers from April, when bluebells still carpet our woodland floors. Its leaves are dark green…

Largely confined to the north of the UK, the rare pine marten is nocturnal and very hard to spot. However, it can be enticed to visit a peanut-laden birdtable.

The tiny, brown-and-white sand martin is a common summer visitor to the UK, nesting in colonies on rivers, lakes and flooded gravel pits. It returns to Africa in winter.

Did you know we have colourful corals in UK seas? Pink sea fans are a type of horny coral - related to the sea fans found in the tropics. Don't be fooled by their name though, pink sea fans…

As its name suggests, the house martin can be spotted nesting in the eaves of houses in our towns and villages. Its intricate mud nests take days to build and are often returned to and used in…

Although, commonly referred to as a ‘sea snail,’ this species in fact belongs to the fish family!

This colonial creature looks like an old-fashioned quill - that's where the name sea pen comes from.