Wonderful WILDLIFE

Keep a look out for these special beauties this summer

- BECKY DICKINSON

Britain is home to wonderful landscapes teeming with insects, birds and other fascinating wildlife. Here are some of the gorgeous creatures you might just spot when you're out and about in the UK this summer.

Beautiful butterflies

These insects are one of the joys of summer. And this year, for the first time since 1976, there's a chance to glimpse the rare and beautiful Chequered Skipper. This small, elusive butterfly was once extinct in England, but has been reintroduced to Fineshade Wood in Northamptonshire by the charity Butterfly Conservation. You might spot them perching in sheltered positions on the edge of woodland or among bracken.

For more good places to see butterflies, Butterfly Conservation has reserves across the UK that are open to visitors.

Go to butterfly-conservation.org

Swooping swifts

These small birds eat, sleep and mate in the air, and are the fastest recorded bird in level flight, flying thousands of miles from sub-Saharan Africa every year to raise their chicks on our shores. With their distinctive 'scream' and graceful arching wings, swifts are remarkable birds.

Sadly, over the past two decades, numbers have halved, partly because as old buildings are demolished they have fewer places to nest, and declining insect populations mean they struggle to feed their chicks.

You can report sightings of swifts at swiftmapper.org.uk