This hefty diving bird is a winter visitor to the UK, where it can be seen around the coast or occasionally on large inland lakes.

Living up to its name the Common blue damselfly is both very common and very blue. It regularly visits gardens - try digging a wildlife-friendly pond to attract damselflies and dragonflies.

Flitting about the house in summer, the gangly, brown daddy longlegs is familiar to many of us. They are a valuable food source for many birds.

A 'weed' of cultivated and disturbed ground, Round-leaved fluellen is a trailing plant with round leaves and yellow flowers that appear over summer.

A climbing plant of hedgerows and woodlands, Black bryony produces greenish flowers in summer and red, shiny berries in autumn. It is a poisonous plant.

The gatekeeper is on the wing in summer on grasslands, in woodlands and along hedgerows. Look out for the large, distinctive eyespot with two 'pupils' on each forewing.

The nodding, blue bells of the harebell are a summer delight of grasslands, sand dunes, hedgerows and cliffs. They are attractive to all kinds of insects, too.

A climbing plant of hedgerows and woodlands, White bryony produces greenish flowers in summer and red, shiny berries in winter. It is a poisonous plant.

Look for the round, cottony, purple flower heads of the Woolly thistle on chalk and limestone grasslands in summer. It is mainly found in Southern England.

Look for the pinky-white flowers of the dog-rose in summer, and its bright red rosehips in autumn. It is a scrambling shrub of hedgerows, woodlands and grasslands.

The long-winged conehead is so-named for the angled shape of its head. It can be found in grasslands, heaths and woodland rides throughout summer.