The common name of the Bloody-nosed beetle derives from its unusual defence mechanism: when threatened, it secretes a distasteful blood-red liquid from its mouth. This flightless beetle can be…

This shiny beetle is common in wooded areas throughout the UK. As the name suggests, it specialises in hunting snails.

The violet click beetle is a very rare beetle that lives in decaying wood, particularly common beech and ash. It gets its name from its habit of springing upwards with an audible click if it falls…

Despite appearances, the slow worm is actually a legless lizard, not a worm or a snake! Look out for it basking in the sun on heathlands and grasslands, or even in the garden, where it favours…

White dead-nettle does not sting. It displays dense clusters of white flowers in whorls around its stem, and can be found on disturbed ground, such as roadside verges.

Red dead-nettle does not sting. It displays dense clusters of pinky-red flowers in whorls around its stem, and can be found on disturbed ground, such as roadside verges.

A ferocious and agile predator, the green tiger beetle hunts spiders, ants and caterpillars on heaths, grasslands and sand dunes. It is one of our fastest insects and a dazzling metallic green…

This small, white heron is an increasingly common sight in parts of the UK as it spreads north from continental Europe.

This tiny wading bird is most often seen in autumn, feeding on the muddy margins of wetlands.

One of our largest soldier beetles, often found on flowers where they hunt other insects.

The Great diving beetle is a large and voracious predator of ponds and slow-moving waterways. Blackish-green in colour, it can be spotted coming to the surface to replenish the air supply it…

The little ringed plover first nested in the UK in 1938, but has since moved in happily! It has taken advantage of an increase in man-made flooded gravel pits, reservoirs and quarries that provide…