Seasons: July

The variable damselfly looks a lot like the azure damselfly, but is much less common throughout most of the UK.

As the name suggests, this tall, white heron is considerably larger than the similar little egret. Once a rare visitor to the UK, sightings have become more common over the last few decades, with several pairs now breeding.

This stocky wader is mostly a winter visitor to the UK, where it can be found on rocky, seaweed-covered coasts, often with groups of turnstones.

With black-and-yellow markings, the hornet mimic hoverfly looks like its namesake, but is harmless to us. This mimicry helps to protect it from predators while it searches for nectar.

The elephant hawk-moth is a pretty, gold-and-pink moth that can be seen at dusk in gardens, parks, woods and grassy habitats. The caterpillars look like elephant's trunks and have eyespots to scare off predators.

The common carp is a very large fish that is popular with anglers due to its size and fighting spirit. It frequents ponds, gravel pits and lakes, but is not native to the UK, being introduced in the Middle Ages.

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.

This tiny gamebird is rarely seen, but its distinctive "wet my lips" call can be heard ringing out over areas of farmland on summer evenings.

• Birds
• Species

This crab is common around all of the UK. If you've ever been rockpooling or crabbing, it's probably the shore crab that you've met.

• Species

This scarce breeding duck is a summer visitor, spending the winter in Africa. Although large flocks can be found in their wintering grounds, they are usually only seen in pairs or small groups in the UK.