Sometimes called 'Wild spinach', Sea beet can be cooked and eaten. It grows wild on shingle beaches, cliffs and bare ground near to the sea, as well as in saltmarshes.

The yellow flower heads of common ragwort are highly attractive to bees and other insects, including the cinnabar moth.

The raven is famous for being the imposing, all-black bird that guards the Tower of London. Wild birds live in forests, and upland and coastal areas in the north and west of the UK.

Flowering in spring, the cylindrical, densely packed flower spikes of Sweet vernal-grass are easily spotted in a meadow. It also tastes of sweet vanilla and was once a favourite 'chewing…

Look for the round, cottony, purple flower heads of the Woolly thistle on chalk and limestone grasslands in summer. It is mainly found in Southern England.

Growing in tufts, Crested dog's-tail is a stiff-looking grass, with a tightly packed, rectangular flower spike. Look for it in lowland meadows and grasslands.

Cock's-foot is a common, tussocky grass of grasslands, woodland rides and cultivated ground - its fluffy, pinky-beige flower heads are quite distinctive.

The ragged-edged, purple flower heads of Greater knapweed bloom on sunny chalk grasslands and clifftops, and along woodland rides. They attract clouds of butterflies.

A tall plant, purple-loosestrife can form dense stands of bright purple flower spikes in wet habitats like reedbeds, fens and marshes.