As its name suggests, giant hogweed it a large umbellifer with distinctively ridged, hollow stems. An introduced species, it is an invasive weed of riverbanks, where it prevents native species from growing.
With yellow-and-black bands, the giant horntail looks like a large wasp, but is harmless to us. The female uses her long, stinger-like ovipositor to lay eggs in pine trees, where the larvae then develop.
The giant house spider is one of our fastest invertebrates, running up to half a metre per second. This large, brown spider spins sheet-like cobwebs and pops up in the dark corners of houses, particularly in autumn.
The Glanville fritillary can be spotted on warm days around coastal habitats on the Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands, as well as at a few locations in mainland England.
The glow-worm is not actually a worm, but a beetle. Males look like typical beetles, but the nightly glow of a female is unmistakeable - lighting up to attract a mate in the darkness of their grassland habitats. Look for the adults in summer.
One of our commonest willows, the Goat willow is a small tree that is found in ditches, reedbeds and wet woodland. It is well-known for its silver, fluffy catkins that give it another name, 'Pussy willow'.
A king among birds, the goldcrest displays a beautiful golden crown. Our smallest bird, it can be spotted in conifer woodlands and parks across the UK.
From spring, look out for the beautiful, speckled gold-and-black breeding plumage of the golden plover. It can be found in its upland moorland breeding grounds from May to September, moving to lowland farmland and fields in winter.
