This large, brown beetle can be seen swarming around streetlights in spring. They live underground as larvae for years and emerge as adults often in large numbers. Listen for their characteristic…

Mainly found in southern and eastern England, the common hornbeam is a tall tree of ancient woodlands. Its large catkins appear in spring, and its winged seeds are dispersed by the wind in autumn…

Look out for the small holly blue in your garden or local park. It is the first blue butterfly to emerge in spring, and a second generation appears in summer. The caterpillars are fond of holly…

The turnstone can be spotted fluttering around large stones on rocky and gravelly shores, flipping them over to look for prey. It can even lift rocks as big as its own body! Although a migrant to…

Looking like a short dandelion, but with a much rounder middle, colt's-foot is a 'weed' of waste ground and field edges that brightens up early spring with its sunshine-yellow…

So-named for the silvery-white appearance of its leaves, the white willow can be seen along riverbanks, around lakes and in wet woodlands. Like other willows, it produces catkins in spring.

Considered to be an early sign of spring, the song of the cuckoo sounds the same as its name: ‘cuck-oo’. It can be heard in woodlands and grasslands. Cuckoos famously lay their eggs in the nests…

The UK's smallest hawker, the hairy dragonfly is mostly black in colour, but has a distinctively hairy thorax. It can be found in grazing marshes and flooded gravel pits, and along canals…

It’s easy to see where these butterflies get their name – the males have bright orange tips on their wings! See them from early spring through to summer in meadows, woodland and hedges.

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.