Great Hogfish by Mark Catesby

In many ways, Sir David Attenborough, OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS (yes, he has all of those) is one of the last bastions of Britishness in celebritydom that we can really be proud of (well, him and Stephen Fry). Almost everyone I've ever met loves him, and if they don't, well they're probably weren't worth meeting. Having dusted his latest series on reptiles, the ever-active octogenarian has helped curate an exhibition called Amazing Rare Things in the Queen's yard (Buck Pal). So frickin' Brit-ish! This time he's dug out a range of incredible botanical sketches for us, done by his spiritual ancestors including Leonardo da Vinci, Mark Catesby and Maria Sibylla Merian.

In keeping with his expansive and aggrandising style (the words "biggest", "deepest" and "largest" occur in 83 percent of all the sentences spoken in the Planet Earth series), here's a little about the artists on show.

Magnolia Bull Bay by Mark Catesby

Mark Catesby is not a household name, which is a bit of a surprise given that he was one of the first to document the wildlife of the North American colonies, not to mention the first person to notice that birds migrated instead of hibernating. From 1726 he spent 20 years composing more than 200 etchings for his book, Natural History of Carolina, Florida and The Bahama Islands. During this time he was probably also the first person to recognise the destructive influence of man on animal habitats.

There is currently a biopic being made about him called The Curious Mister Catesby. I predict a Da Vinci Code effect on book sales - though hopefully the film won't be utter shite.

Common or 'spectacled' caiman and South American false coral snake by Maria Sibylla Merian

It was commonly thought at the time (1660s), that insects just 'appeared' out of the mud. I shit you not. Maria Sibylla Merian, during her studies of creepy crawlies (an uncommon field of study, as bugs were thought of as Satanic) documented the metamorphosis of caterpillars into butterflies. This lead to the realisation that perhaps insects weren't fathered by soil. The Hungry Caterpillar simply would not have been possible without her.

Star of Bethlehem, crowsfoot, wood anemone and sun spurge by Leonardo Da Vinci