The grass snake is our longest snake, but don't worry if you find one in the compost heap - it's harmless! Look out for this green and yellow beauty in grasslands and wetlands, too.

The easiest way to find out if the nocturnal and well-camouflaged nightjar is about is to listen out for its distinctive 'churring' call at dusk. A summer visitor, it is most numerous in…

Also known as 'Goldmoss' due to its dense, low-growing nature and yellow flowers, Biting stonecrop can be seen on well-drained ground like sand dunes, shingle, grasslands, walls and…

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…

An unmistakeable insect of heaths, sand dunes and grasslands, the Emperor moth is fluffy, grey-brown, with big peacock-like eyespots on all four wings. Males can be seen during the day, but…

The dense, spiky tufts of Marram grass are a familiar sight on our windswept coasts. In fact, its matted roots help to stabilise sand dunes, allowing them to grow up and become colonised by other…

The stone loach is notoriously hard to spot - not only is it mostly nocturnal, it is also well camouflaged and can partially bury itself in the riverbed. It uses its whisker-like barbels to find…

Despite having the familiar sage-green leaves, Wood sage has very little scent, so is not a good cooking herb. It can be found on acidic soils on sand dunes, heaths and cliffs, and along woodland…