The harvest mouse is tiny - an adult can weigh as little as a 2p piece! It prefers habitats with long grass, but you are most likely to spot its round, woven-grass nests.

When spotting the pintail in winter, look out for the fabulous, long tail feathers that characterise it. This dabbling duck feeds at the water's surface, rather than diving for food.

You are likely to spot the smooth newt in your garden or local pond. It breeds in water in summer and spends the rest of the year in grassland and woodland, hibernating over winter.

The linnet can be seen on farmland and heathland across the UK. But, like so many other farmland birds, linnets are declining rapidly, mainly due to agricultural intensification.

The common polypody is a hardy fern of damp, shady places in woodlands. It also makes a good garden fern. It has ladder-like, leathery foliage with pimply undersides - these spots are the spores…

Favouring shady spots in woodlands and hedgerows, Garlic mustard can grow very tall. It has small, white flowers and, as its name suggests, smells faintly of garlic.

The small, yellow flowers and woolly appearance of kidney vetch make this plant easy to spot. Look for it growing low to the ground on sand dunes, chalk grasslands and cliffs in summer.

The distinctive spiky, or 'bearded', green flower heads of wall barley appear from June to July and are easy to spot in an urban environment as they push their way up through pavements…

The Sessile oak is so-called because its acorns are not held on stalks like those of the familiar English oak. It can be found in woodlands mainly in the north and west of the UK.

As the only crow with a red bill and red legs, the all-black chough is easy to identify. But it's harder to spot: there are only small, coastal populations in Scotland, Ireland, Wales,…