Violet ground beetles are active predators, coming out at night to hunt slugs and other invertebrates in gardens, woodlands and meadows.

The white-letter hairstreak gets its name from the white lines that form a 'W' shape on its underside. It is an elusive butterfly, spending much of its time in the treetops.

The common prawn is a familiar sight to anyone who has spent time exploring rockpools - particularly their characteristic quick dart into the darkness just as you spot them!

With their beautiful striped tentacles, it's easy to see where dahlia anemones got their floral name from. Look out for them next time you're rockpooling!

Golden banks of common rock-rose make a spectacular sight on our chalk and limestone grasslands in summer. A creeping shrub, it is good for bees, moths and butterflies.

A recent colonist to South East England, the metallic-green Willow emerald damselfly spends much of its time in the willow and alder trees that overhang ponds, lakes and canals.

This secretive bird is a member of the rail family, related to coots and moorhens. The breeding call, a rasping rattle, is given mostly at night, sometimes for hours on end.

The melodious song of the nightingale is the most likely sign of this bird being about. Shy and secretive, it sings from dense scrub and woodland, day and night.

A delicate, small plant of woodlands and hedgerows, wood-sorrel has distinctive, trefoil leaves and white flowers with purple veins; both fold up at night.

Famed for its tapping in the middle of the night, supposedly heralding tragedy, the Deathwatch beetle is a serious wood-boring pest. In houses, their tunnelling can cause major damage.

Found almost everywhere, the large yellow underwing is a night-flying moth that is often attracted to lights. It is brown with orangey-yellow hindwings.

The Land caddis is the only caddisfly in the UK to spend its entire time on land, with no stage in water. Look in oak leaf litter over winter to see the grainy cases of the larvae, in which they…