Due to the devastating effects of Dutch elm disease in the 20th century, wych elm is rarely found as a large tree, but is more common as a shrub along hedgerows and streams, and in upland areas.…

The bee orchid is a sneaky mimic - the flower’s velvety lip looks like a female bee. Males fly in to try to mate with it and end up pollinating the flower. Sadly, the right bee species doesn’t…

A fleshy herb of the wet margins of brooks, streams and ditches, Brooklime can be seen all year-round and provides shelter for tadpoles and sticklebacks.

The Sitka spruce was introduced into the UK from North America in the 19th century. It has been widely planted as a forestry tree; look for classic needle-like leaves and pale brown, domed cones…

Water figwort is a tall plant of riverbanks, pond margins, damp meadows and wet woodlands. Its maroon flowers are pollinated by the Common wasp.

The delicate, tube-like, violet-blue flowers of Skullcap bloom from June to September in damp places, such as marshes, fens, riverbanks and pond margins.

Introduced from Japan in the 19th century, Japanese knotweed is now an invasive non-native plant of many riverbanks, waste grounds and roadside verges, where it prevents native species from…