This secretive bird is a member of the rail family, related to coots and moorhens. The breeding call, a rasping rattle, is given mostly at night, sometimes for hours on end.

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.

The melodious song of the nightingale is the most likely sign of this bird being about. Shy and secretive, it sings from dense scrub and woodland, day and night.

A delicate, small plant of woodlands and hedgerows, wood-sorrel has distinctive, trefoil leaves and white flowers with purple veins; both fold up at night.

An inconspicuous tree for much of the year, the wild service tree comes to life in spring, when it displays pretty, white blossom, and autumn, when its maple-like leaves turn bright crimson.

Sea-buckthorn is a spiny, thicket-forming shrub of sand dunes. It's native to the east coast of England but considered an invasive species elsewhere. It is most obvious in autumn when it is…

Golden banks of common rock-rose make a spectacular sight on our chalk and limestone grasslands in summer. A creeping shrub, it is good for bees, moths and butterflies.

The shanny is a common sight in rockpools all around the UK. They are feisty little fish and have been known to bite when caught, so watch your fingers!

A small woodland and hedgerow tree, spindle is most striking in the autumn when clusters of bright pink-and-orange berries hang from its twigs, providing food for mice, birds and even Red Foxes.…