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.

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.

The wild rock dove is the ancestor to what is probably our most familiar bird - the feral pigeon, which is often found in large numbers in our towns and cities.

Heather is also called 'ling'. Look for it on our heaths, moors and bogs, where its delicate, loosely arranged pink flowers attract all kinds of nectar-loving insects.

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.

The shy dunnock can be seen hopping about under hedges as its other name, 'hedge sparrow', suggests. It inhabits gardens, woodlands, hedgerows and parks.