Parsley fern lives up to its name - the pale green fronds form in clusters among rocks and look just like parsley. Look out for it in upland areas, particularly in Wales and Cumbria.

The beautiful pink and white bands of a Painted topshell make it easy to see where this little sea snail got its name!

This brilliant red and white sea slug would make the perfect nudibranch for a Christmas card image or perhaps a football team mascot!

The vast, green mats that sometimes cover the surface of still water, such as ponds, flooded gravel pits and old canals, are actually Common duckweed. A tiny, single plant, it groups together to…

Despite its name, spurge laurel is not a laurel - it just looks like one! It has glossy, dark green leaves and black, poisonous berries, and can be found in woodlands in southern England, in…

The pyramidal orchid lives up to its name - look for a bright pinky-purple, densely packed pyramid of flowers atop a green stem. It likes chalk grassland, sand dunes, roadside verges and quarries…

As the name suggests, this beautiful brown butterfly is most common in Scotland, though it can also be seen in northern England.

The dark-blue flowers of Common milkwort pepper our grasslands from May to September. It can also appear in pink and white forms.

The crested tit is a small, energetic woodland bird from the Highlands of Scotland. It's easily recognised by its prominent black and white crest.