The RSPB's big nature count: What to look out for

The goldfinch is sociable, often breeding in loose colonies and feeding in small flocks. It has a red face and black and yellow wings with a pleasant, twittering song and call. Its fine beak allows it to extract otherwise inaccessible seeds from thistles Photograph: Ray Kennedy/RSPB

It is estimated that there are more than 30,000 foxes in urban areas. As territorial animals, they signal to other foxes by leaving droppings in prominent places Photograph: Graham Turner

With its bright, orange-red breast, brown back and dumpy shape, robins are a familiar and much-loved garden bird Photograph: Sue Tranter/RSPB

Common toads are most active during wet weather and can be seen hunting at night. They can grow to 8cm, and are brown or olive brown in colour. Young common toads are often reddish-brown. They breed in ponds during the spring but later in the year will stray as they are tolerant of dry conditions Photograph: Silke Magino/Rex Features

A male chaffinch. Both male and female chaffinches have black and white wings, and a green rump, but the male has a pinky face and breast. You will often see chaffinches hopping about under a bird table, or hedge looking for food Photograph: Sue Tranter/RSPB

Hedgehogs are noisy animals and can be heard grunting and snuffling as they root in the undergrowth for food. At this time of year, hedgehogs shelter during the day in temporary nests such as piles of cut grass and are most active at night after rain Photograph: Mujo Korach/Rex Features

Gregarious and noisy residents, long-tailed tits are most usually noticed in small, excitable flocks of about 20 birds Photograph: Sue Tranter/RSPB

Grey squirrels communicate mainly through their tails, which they twitch if they are uneasy. They are diurnal, active from before sunrise to after sunset, and they can leap more than six metres. Grey squirrels can live up to 10 years Photograph: Warwick Sloss/NPL/Rex Features

The male blackbird, pictured here, is black with a bright orange-yellow eye-ring and bill, while the female is brown. It is the male that is noted for its distinctive song Photograph: Sue Tranter/RSPB

Badgers have poor eyesight but excellent hearing and sense of smell. They are nocturnal and are adapted specifically for a life underground. They do not hibernate and although they are elusive by nature they can be spotted foraging for earthworms on a freshly mowed lawn, where the activity is most effective Photograph: Colin Seddon/NPL/Rex Features

The male greenfinch is a green bird with yellow patches on the wings, a forked tail and a stout beak, while the female is browner. It is a popular garden visitor that takes advantage of food in town and city gardens at a time when intensive agriculture has deprived it of food in the countryside Photograph: Ray Kennedy/RSPB

A frog clambering among the flowers. As amphibians, frogs spend part of their lives in water and the rest on dry land where they feed. They need to keep damp so they prefer wet conditions. They are attracted to the humid conditions in greenhouses, which also attract other insects and small creatures that frogs eat Photograph: David Hartley/Rex Features

A blue tit. A colourful mix of blue, yellow, white and green make this agile bird one of the UK's most attractive resident garden visitors Photograph: Rex Features

Starlings look black at a distance but when seen closer they are very glossy with a sheen of purples and greens. Their flight is fast and direct and they walk and run confidently on the ground Photograph: Rex Features