Frogbit looks like a mini water-lily as it floats on the surface of ponds, lakes and still waterways. It offers shelter to tadpoles, fish and dragonfly larve.

The stiff, spiky and upright leaves and brown flowers of hard rush are a familiar sight of wetlands, riversides, dune slacks and marshes across England and Wales.

Our largest shieldbug, the red-and-green hawthorn shieldbug can be seen in gardens, parks and woodlands, feeding on hawthorn, rowan and whitebeam. The adults hibernate over winter.

Wild privet is a shrub of hedgerows, woodlands and scrub, but is also a popular garden-hedge plant. It has white flowers in summer and matt-black berries in winter that are very poisonous.

The bar-tailed godwit winters in the UK in the thousands; look for it around estuaries like the Thames and Humber. In spring, the males display arresting breeding plumage, with brick-red heads,…

Known in America as the 'Eared Grebe' because of its golden ear tufts, the black-necked grebe is a rare nesting bird in the UK. It is easiest to spot around southern coasts in winter.…

Our largest bat, the noctule roosts in trees and can be seen flying over the canopy in search of insect-prey, such as cockchafers. Like other bats, it hibernates over winter.

The once-common pochard is now under threat because its populations are declining rapidly. The UK is an important winter destination for the pochard, with 48,000 birds visiting our wetlands and…

The redwing is a winter visitor, enjoying the feast of seasonal berries the UK's hedgerows, gardens and parks have to offer. Look out for the distinctive orangey-red patches under its wings…