Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk: This nodule of ergot looks innocuous, but it contains a powerful substance that isn’t to be messed with

Brancepeth, Wear valley, County Durham: Seed pods are spilling their contents in hope of a breath of wind, while tiny insects rise on the thermals

Tonedale, Wellington, Somerset: I pick my way over builder’s debris in the yard and sit by the river, water-crowfoot and demoiselles around me

Glen Feshie, Cairngorms national park, Scotland: We take a bike ride through a glacial trough that slowly but surely has become a wildlife haven

Abbeydale, Sheffield: Vapourer moths are unusual in many ways, not least their extravagant appearance at the caterpillar stage

Blackgang Beach, Isle of Wight: For a moment on a deserted beach, raven and peregrine rattle their sabres before going about their business once more

Ardmalin, County Donegal: Around 15,000 years ago, Ireland was ‘islanded’ from Europe before Britain. That’s when this animal began to evolve its uniqueness

Maelor Saesneg, north-east Wales: This is lake country, haunting and fascinating, and strongly Welsh despite being a stone’s throw from England

Rothwell, Northamptonshire: My connection to this place runs deep. What I loved most back then were the long walks with Mum and Nan, deep into the countryside

Northumberland: Millions of pheasants are released each year, and this was just a few hundred of them – confused and distressed, not quite wild, not quite domesticated

Tebay, Cumbria: I anxiously picked berries while waiting for Snowdrop to give birth to the first pedigree calf of our herd

Witton-le-Wear, County Durham: This non-native fixture of the English countryside is much maligned, but they are of increasing importance to our bees

Porlock, Somerset: Only hungry horseflies and a young buzzard disturb the peace, while the deep green has taken on a blue glint

Abbeyleix Bog, County Laois, Ireland: I was sceptical about whether this valuable but struggling habitat would be restored in my lifetime. I’m delighted to be proved wrong

Ardersier, Moray Firth: I’ve come all the way from south Devon and my colleague from the Outer Hebrides, such is the dearth of thatchers in Scotland now

28 July 1924: There is special beauty, during the long lays of summer, in a sea coast which has a northern aspect