The rare heath fritillary was on the brink of extinction in the 1970s, but conservation action turned its fortunes around. It is still confined to a small number of sites in the south of England,…

The rare smooth snake can only be found at a few heathland sites in the UK. It looks a bit like an adder, but lacks the distinctive zig-zag pattern along its back.

A winter visitor, the well-travelled Bewick's swan is the smallest of our swans. It has more black on its yellow-and-black bill than the whooper swan. Look out for it around Eastern England…

The fearsome-looking hornet may not be a well-loved insect, but it is actually much less aggressive than the common wasp. It is also an important pollinator and a predator of species that feed on…

Unsurprisingly, the chalkhill blue can be found on sunny, chalk grassland sites in southern England. Clouds of this beautiful blue butterfly may be seen fluttering around low-growing flowers.

A true wildlife 'hotel', Honeysuckle is a climbing plant that caters for all kinds of wildlife: it provides nectar for insects, prey for bats, nest sites for birds and food for small…

The lesser-black backed gull can be spotted around the coast in summer, with the biggest colony on Walney Island, Cumbria. Look for it over fields, landfill sites and reservoirs during winter.