Duck and cover

From a heroic long-distance swimmer to a producer of spectacularly eerie sound effects, the seabirds seen swooping and diving over British waters have all manner of singular skills, says John Lewis-Stempel

A cold-water nomad with a voracious appetite, the overfished cod may be dwindling in numbers, but it is still a big beast of the sea

Unhurried in flight and with a sideline in stolen goods, the handsome red kite is the gentleman thief of the raptor world

Check your answers against our explanations. Remember, there are no ‘trick’ birds or extreme rarities among these...

With high summer beckoning, John Lewis-Stempel reflects on the incomparable richness of pond life and the rewards of pausing to peer into the murky depths on a warm June afternoon

In the British countryside, it’s common to hear gruff caw-caw-cawing and see large black birds flapping overhead. That’ll be a corvid – but which have you spotted, asks Clare Hunt