Turn over large stones or paving slabs in the garden and you are likely to find a red ant colony. This medium-sized ant can deliver a painful sting, so be careful! In summer, winged adults swarm…

The most common wood ant is the southern wood Ant, or 'red wood ant', which is found in England and Wales. An aggressive predator, it plays a vital pest control role in our woodlands.…

If you have a garden pond, look out for the Large red damselfly resting at the water's edge. As the name suggests, males are bright red with a black thorax, but females may be almost entirely…

Look for the wood warbler singing from the canopy of oak woodlands in the north and west of the UK. Green above, it has a distinctive, bright yellow throat and eyestripe.

The black garden ant is the familiar and abundant small ant that lives in gardens, but also turns up indoors searching for sugary food. In summer, winged adults, or 'flying ants', swarm…

A very rare ant, once found on heathland across southern England but now restricted to Scotland and Devon. It constructs distinctive thatched nests in open areas at the edges of scrub, and forages…

The yellow meadow ant is known for creating anthills in grassland habitats. It has a close relationship with the chalkhill blue butterfly - protecting the larvae in return for a sugary substance…

This large green moth rests with its wings spread, so is sometimes mistaken for a butterfly.

The large white is a common garden visitor - look out for its brilliant white wings, tipped with black.

Despite its name, the large blue is a fairly small butterfly, but the largest of our blues. It was declared extinct in 1979, but reintroduced in the 1980s and now survives in southern England.