Forming mats of straight, bright green stems, Common spike-rush does, indeed, look like lots of tightly clustered 'spikes' near the water's edge of our wetland habitats.

Despite appearances, this weird and wonderful creature is not a jellyfish! They're sometimes found washed up on our shores after westerly winds. Look but don't touch - they give a very…

Bloody crane's-bill has striking magenta flowers that pepper our rare limestone pavements, grasslands and sand dunes with summer colour. It is a favourite of all kinds of insects, including…

The Broad centurion, or 'Green soldier fly', is one of our most common soldier flies, and is often found in gardens. It has hairy eyes and a metallic blue or bronze body. It is an…

Traditionally a small finch of woodland and scrub, it appears that the lesser redpoll is now moving into our gardens. It has a streaky brown body, red forehead and black bib, and mostly feeds on…

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 most common wood ant is the southern wood Ant, or 'red wood ant', which is found in England and Wales. An aggressive predator, it plays a vital pest control role in our woodlands.…

The bright yellow daffodils that adorn our roadsides and parks are likely to be garden varieties. Head to a woodland or damp meadow in North or South West England, or Wales, to see a true wild…

The tiny, brown wood mouse is one of our most common rodents and is very likely to be found in the garden. It is similar to the house mouse, but has larger ears and eyes relative to its size.