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Formby Point, Merseyside Travel time Southport 30 minutes, Liverpool 45 minutes Few parts of England are blessed with such wildlife riches as the Sefton coast. Birders come here for the waders on the beach and rare seabirds; mammal-watchers come for the red squirrels; herpetologists are delighted with a potential hat-trick of goodies; botanists come for the dune-slack orchids and other treats. There are rare moths, ferns, and even a famous liverwort. There are even superb fossils on the beach. Formby has two stations not far from the beach (Freshfield and Formby), so you can get here easily by public transport. You can park for free in some parts of town, too. The most famous wild residents of the area are the red squirrels, the southernmost population in mainland England. These animals live in the pinewoods on the dunes, and the best place to see them is the Freshfield Squirrel Reserve. The squirrels are beautiful and tame; you can even buy nuts to feed them from the warden’s office. They are at their smartest in the winter, when their ear tufts have just regrown; in summer, they can look distinctly scruffy. The three cold-blooded stars of Formby are the natterjack toad, the sand lizard and the great crested newt. The sand lizard and natterjack live for most of the year in the dunes, but while the sand lizard is active during the day, the toad comes out at night. The best way to appreciate the latter is to come between April and July on a warm, damp evening, and listen beside a breeding pool for their strange wheezy croak, which can become quite a chorus when many males are together. |
Sheepleas, Surrey Travel time Guildford 20 minutes, London 50 minutes The Surrey Hills area of the North Downs, just south of London, is full of nooks and crannies and untidy corners. One was even proclaimed by eminent scientists, in 1913, to be the “finest piece of botanical and entomological land within 30 miles of London”. If that was the case then, you can imagine how important Sheepleas nature reserve is now, after decades of house building and land intensification in the surrounding area. There is a beautiful cowslip meadow on the east side of the reserve but that isn’t the only display of flowers, it turns out that Sheepleas is something of a show-off location: the nearby woodland gives a mean display of bluebells, and when all this spring unsubtlety fades a more varied riot of blooms takes over. The soil is chalky and so the calcareous favourites are here, such as marjoram, eyebright, milkwort, wild thyme, common rock-rose, yellow-wort and various orchids. There is more to Sheepleas than flowers. More than 30 species of butterflies have been recorded and there is an excellent display of grasshoppers and crickets. Birds are plentiful and include marsh tit, bullfinch, nuthatch and treecreeper. Sheepleas is also an excellent area in which to get lost. The reserve covers 270 acres of varied habitats on steep, chalky and often very muddy slopes. The scrub, woodland and fields have a network of paths between and around them, and many look quite similar. However, the area is served by three car parks (the one on Shere Road, a turn-off on the A246 by West Horsley, is the most popular) and there are also two waymarked nature trails, one a Woodland Trail and one a Grassland Trail, so it happens less often than it used to. On the other hand, getting a bit lost can be part of the fun. |
Lancaut, Monmouthshire and Gloucestershire Travel time Bristol 30 minutes, Newport 30 minutes On the last 20 miles of its journey down to the Severn estuary, the River Wye meanders through a series of heavily wooded limestone cliffs. One of its most dramatic swerves is around the Lancaut “peninsula” just north of Chepstow, where a westward and then an eastward turn has almost created an island. This scenic spot is dominated by the river and the cliffs that tower over it, while some of the best wildlife is in the woodlands. Just a few miles from the mouth of the Severn, the Wye is tidal and at points on the peninsula the transition from woodland to saltmarsh is so abrupt as to be covered in a few paces, a situation almost unique in Britain. Although it is possible to approach the peninsula by road (Lancaut Lane), it is more satisfying to walk from Chepstow and follow the Lancaut Loop. Park in the bustling Welsh town, go across the bridge into England, follow Offa’s Dyke north, and then, at a green-painted mansion called Pen Moel, ignore the path right and instead go under a small wooden bridge into Lancaut nature reserve. Within a mile or so, you are in a different world – swallowed up under the canopy of oak, field maple and yew. Your eyes might be drawn to the bluebells in spring, and the violets and wood anemones, but the stars are the shrubs. The scarce small-leaved lime grows here, together with the wild service tree, but for sheer rarity value the shrubs known as whitebeams make botanists go weak at the knees. Several species, including the round-leaved whitebeam and the Symonds Yat whitebeam, occur in the Wye Valley and nowhere else in the world. Having reached a clearing beyond the old quarry, the public footpath goes past the ruins of St James’s Church. It ascends towards a farm, past a bench where there are views over the Wye. If you turn right here you can follow Lancaut Lane past the old fort and back to Offa’s Dyke, where you retrace your steps. On the left of the lane, though is another woodland, Ban-y-Gor Woods (still in England), also a nature reserve. A track leads past exceptional flora and there are beeches and yews, with small-leaved lime and whitebeams again making up the understorey. |
Old Sulehay, Northamptonshire Travel time Peterborough 20 minutes, Leicester 55 minutes Fancy a trip to an ancient woodland to look for oysters? That’s a ridiculous idea, right? It might sound like it, but Old Sulehay Forest in Northamptonshire, a long way from the sea, just happens to be a place where you might find seashells among the trees. They are fossils, naturally enough, from an oolitic quarry within the boundary of the forest. Old Sulehay itself is what remains of a much larger ancient forest, Rockingham, which once stretched from nearby Wansford all the way to Kettering, 20 miles to the south-west. The present-day Old Sulehay is a nature reserve with a patchwork of woodland, old, overgrown quarries, grassland and wetland areas divided into four chunks. There is Old Sulehay ancient woodland itself, Stonepit Close quarry, a woodland/grassland called Ring Haw, and a southern section, Sammock’s Hill, which is being restored as a limestone grassland and also has a small pool and reedbed. Although the site is just a few miles to the west of Peterborough, not many people visit any of these chunks and you are likely to have the reserve virtually to yourself for the day. The Old Sulehay nature reserve is a place of contrasts, from deep woodland to open quarry, and with both clay and limestone soil. Yet one of its greatest contrasts is between the past and the future: ancient woodland has been intact for centuries, while the newly seeded grassland is a project for the future. |
Flanders Moss, Stirlingshire Travel time Stirling 20 minutes, Glasgow 50 minutes Flanders Moss is a large raised bog in the valley of the Upper Forth, to the west of Stirling. If you don’t like bogs you can stop reading … but you will be missing out. This is a special place, with an atmosphere all its own: peaceful and full of wildlife. The site lies in the Carse of Stirling and once was just one of many bogs that covered much of this part of Scotland. So many have been drained, cut for peat and otherwise destroyed that Flanders Moss is now one of the largest (2,125 acres) and most intact bogs in Britain. Bogs have all sorts of good attributes, and here on Flanders Moss it is easy to see them in one short visit. You access this national nature reserve (run by Scottish Natural Heritage) by turning off the B822 between Kippen and the village of Thornhill. A small road takes goes down to a car park, a boardwalk and, recently added, a magnificent tower platform which gives elevated views over the reserve. The boardwalk takes you into the nitty-gritty of the bog. Here you can admire the sphagnum mosses of many different species, all spongy and wondrously green or brown. Other plants show off their habitat allegiance: bog rosemary, bog myrtle and bog asphodel. Common cottongrass is everywhere, and there are also several species of orchids, such as lesser butterfly orchid. In summer, the bog is a renowned place for dragonflies and damselflies. It marks one of the southernmost stations in Britain for the northern emerald, a metallic dark green dragonfly with green eyes. The tower offers the chance to see some of the bog’s birds. Snipe, curlew and reed bunting breed within the wet areas, while both meadow and tree pipit are found in open and scrubby habitats respectively. The meadow pipit is the host for the cuckoo, which is common hereabouts. Another interesting breeding bird locally is the osprey, which fishes in the Lake of Menteith to the west of the reserve. |
Wyre Forest, Worcestershire Travel time Kidderminster 20 minutes, Birmingham 45 minutes The Wyre Forest is most certainly a place in which you can lose yourself. In all it covers 5,930 acres and encompasses many different types of woodland, as well as old orchards and meadows. The forest lies on a plateau west of the River Severn, with such varying geology that one part of the wood may have a completely different atmosphere to the rest. For example, on much of the plateau the soils are acidic, and oaks and birches intermix; however, on the limestone sections there are woods of ash and hazel, with a different ground flora. Cutting through the plateau, more or less from west to east, is the gorgeous Dowles Brook and its valley, which is the richest part of the whole area. This is the heart of the forest and where any visitor should head as a priority. The oaks on the valley overflow with birds and butterflies flit along the dappled shade next to the stream. Seckley Wood, on the north-eastern corner on the banks of the Severn, is another outstanding section. With a mixture of old oak and birch, plus beeches and an adjacent cherry orchard, it is particularly good for birds, including pied flycatchers, wood warblers and hawfinches. From the top there is a terrific view of the river below and the atmosphere is sublimely calm. |
South Gower Cliffs, Glamorgan Travel time Swansea 40 minutes, Llanelli 45 minutes It’s a coastline rich in all kinds of treasures: history and geology, bracing walks and one of the best beaches for miles around. The latter is right next to where you must head to begin your exploration: the village of Rhossili. The long sweep of golden sands will tempt you on arrival, especially on a warm sunny day – or perhaps a windswept one but for wildlife-watching purposes you are heading south-west. Worm’s Head is an island only accessible for about two and a half hours each low tide but if you arrive at the right time (tide times are available at the old coastal lookout building, now an information centre, a mile down the wide path), it makes for an exciting challenge. Descend to the beach and embark on a scramble over the causeway. After 20 minutes you reach the Inner Head. It’s easy enough to follow the path along and over Devil’s Bridge, what is left of a collapsed sea cave, and then the land gets narrower and more precipitous as you get towards the Outer Head. You can’t climb to the top in the birds’ breeding season (1 March to 31 August). Once at the end of the Outer Head, you are a mile out. Make sure you beat the tide back, as it comes in fast. People have been cut off and it is a seven-hour wait for it to recede. Poet Dylan Thomas was once stranded here – and wrote about the experience. There are many things to see if you don’t walk out to Worm’s Head. Follow the coastal path towards Port Eynon. There are several nature reserves along the way, such as Deborah’s Hole, named after an inaccessible cave, which has a good range of flowers on the limestone and breeding rock pipits and linnets. |
Erewash Meadows, Nottinghamshire Travel time Nottingham 30 minutes, Derby 30 minutes This place won’t be everybody’s cup of tea, with the A608 at its southern end, a railway next door and Nottingham just to the east. However, two wildlife trusts have seen fit to buy parts of Erewash Meadows, a flood plain that straddles their borders. And there is a certain romance to a place like this: Eastwood-born DH Lawrence set several of his novels in the Erewash valley, not least The Rainbow. Erewash approximates to a wandering (meandering) marshy river and this is a duly wet, slushy spot. The river has a tendency to flood rapidly, meaning that the site isn’t always passable. Even when it is, you must keep to the paths around the reserve to ensure your feet remain dry. There are three parts of Erewash Meadows. Aldercar Flashes are at the south end, near Eastwood, while the middle section encompasses Brinsley Meadows (there can be shooting nearby) and the northern section runs alongside the disused Cromford canal. Aldercar Flashes are most favoured by birdwatchers; you can access them from Plumptre Road in Langley Mill and under the A610, or from Stoney Lane in Brinsley, or for a longer but more salubrious walk, park on Boat Lane at Stoneyford Lodge to the north. In all, a remarkable total of almost 200 bird species has been recorded here, including many rarities such as the spoonbill. It is an excellent place for kingfishers, especially along the Cromford Canal, and grey wagtails too. You might also spot a little owl, a bird that likes willow trees and low posts, while barn owls hunt over the long, grassy meadows. |
Dee Estuary, Cheshire Travel time Birkenhead 30 minutes, Chester 40 minutes The River Dee rises in Snowdonia, flows east to Chester and discharges into a wide estuary, the left-hand cleft of the two on the coast between Wales and England; the other is the Mersey. As it disgorges into the Irish Sea it provides first-class wildlife habitat. In this area, there are two experiences you shouldn’t miss. The first is a visit to offshore, uninhabited Hilbre Island and its sister islets Little Eye and Middle Eye, which is an adventure involving walking over the sands from West Kirby jetty at low tide. And it isn’t an adventure to undertake lightly. Although they are only a mile offshore, it takes an hour or so to reach the first island, Little Eye, and you must start your walk at least three hours before high tide. The walk will become downright dangerous, into pools and quicksands, if you don’t follow the correct, well-marked route. The three islands are of red sandstone and more substantial than they appear from a distance. One of the buildings is used as a bird observatory, particularly in the autumn when rarities often turn up on this exposed coastline – 270 species, an astonishing total, have been recorded in all. On a fine day, the views are often spectacular, across to the Lake District and even the Isle of Man. For the second experience, you must position yourself at Parkgate Marsh, near Neston down the coast, on a rising spring tide. On a few days each year, depending on the weather, the water rises over the marsh much higher than usual, and the spectacle is fantastic. If this happens in autumn or winter, thousands of wading birds are pushed close to the Parkgate promenade and give incredible views. |
Ufton Fields, Warwickshire Travel time Coventry 35 minutes, Birmingham 50 minutes Here’s a recipe for the perfect nature reserve. Take a patch of fallow ground, furrow it enough so that there are banks and hollows, to which you add water. Leave to grow naturally, forming woodland of all different types and stages. Allow in all kinds of wildlife. Place into 77 acres of otherwise unremarkable countryside within reach of large towns and cities. And, hey presto, you have Ufton Fields, near Leamington Spa. This is how Ufton Fields came into being, albeit not intentionally. In the 1950s this spot was quarried open cast for its limestone and then abandoned. The works left the spoil in ridges, with deep furrows in between that collected rainwater and became pools and marshes. Years of neglect allowed the site to rewild itself, although some trees were planted. Now it is carefully managed by the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust. Its main importance happens to lie in its invertebrates. Thousands of people flock here each year to see the nationally rare soldier fly Stratiomys furcata and two rare beetles. Of course, they don’t really, but the site is also excellent for two sets of summery insects: dragonflies and butterflies. Those who are after wild flowers won’t be disappointed either, because there is a terrific range here. As ever, orchids get much of the attention. There is a six-pack of species, namely common spotted, early purple, bee, greater butterfly and man orchids, plus common twayblade. Of these, man orchid, with its bizarre flowers like hanging mannequins, is not found anywhere else in Warwickshire. |
Castle Eden Dene, County Durham Travel time Sunderland 25 minutes, Hartlepool 25 minutes This place is nicknamed the Jungle of the North by locals: it is a deep cleft taken over by rank and rich vegetation. In the narrower parts the trees are ancient, gnarled and tangled, the soil is heavy and the sides are steep, clayey and unstable. There are hidden corners everywhere, damp and shaded. Nothing much has changed in this deep ravine for thousands of years. Overall the dene is quite a large site, with open areas, even grassland and scrub, at each end, and the narrowest, steepest section in the middle. There is a visitor centre on Oakerside Drive, Peterlee, near the Oakerside entrance, where you can park and enjoy a small pond and garden, with a range of flowers. There are other entrances dotted about; Gunner’s Pool Bridge spans an impressive gorge, and an elegant railway viaduct goes over the eastern end, near the sea. Much of the woodland is ash and wych elm, with oaks, sycamores and some areas of planted conifers. One its most unusual features is the large amount of yew cover; this is the furthest north this tree grows naturally in Britain. Many individuals are old and multi-branched, and some are collapsing as the sides of the gorge periodically give way. They add a dark, magical atmosphere to the cleft. Under the deciduous trees is a thick and extensive understorey of hazel, dogwood, spurge laurel, spindle, privet and guelder rose, making this a good place to test your shrub identification skills. Be warned: at times the area acts out its wildness and landslips make the paths impassable. Take good boots, take good care and enjoy the jungle. |
St Mary’s Island, Tyne & Wear Travel time Newcastle upon Tyne 30 minutes, Sunderland 40 minutes) The lighthouse on the top of St Mary’s Island, near Whitley Bay, is one of the most photographed spots on the north-east coast. What the numerous visitors to this delightful spot don’t often realise is just how good it is for wildlife, too. Take the famous grey seals, for instance. They can be seen here for most of the year but they don’t breed or raise young on the rocks of the island; they are visitors from the Farne Island colonies 40 miles to the north. So, in a sense they are just as much daytrippers as the crowds of people. Many other forms of wildlife make use of the island and the nearby St Mary’s wetland, a small adjacent area of freshwater pools. In particular, wading birds use the whole place for roosting and feeding, some in nationally important numbers. Purple sandpiper, turnstone, sanderling, redshank and golden plover are all here between July and March or April, and loaf on the rocks, the wetland or the clifftop grassland. Terns often visit during fishing trips from the Farne Islands or Coquet Island, and a good mix of species is often found in mid to late summer, including a lot of Arctic terns and a few of the rare roseate tern. St Mary’s Island itself is one of those exciting places that is cut off at high tide. Most of the time it is easily reachable by foot across a causeway but twice a day it is a real island. Check the tide times posted in the car park carefully. If the island is accessible, it has facilities including a small museum in the lighthouse (adults £3.30, family 2+2 ticket £7.70) and you can climb the 137 steps to the top, from which the view is ravishing. |
Kingley Vale, West Sussex Travel time Portsmouth 30 minutes, Brighton 60 minutes The yew forest here isn’t just worth visiting for its rarity – wandering around the gnarled, weathered stumps and stooping, ancient branches is also a unique experience, unsettling and eerie, particularly in the evening. The yews here are known to be at least 500 years old, and some may be up to 2,000 years old. The largest have a girth of almost five metres. They are native trees and, in the autumn, produce red berries (technically known as arils) that are eaten by thrushes and other birds, despite the seed coating being deadly poisonous to us. To get into the vale, you need to use your feet. The nearest parking area is the national nature reserve car park at West Stoke, some 15 minutes’ walk from the entrance along an unremarkable footpath through farmland. The vale is soon visible flanking the hill (Bow Hill) ahead of you. There is a lot more to see in this 395-acre nature reserve than just the trees, not least impressive chalk flora, most noticeably where the trees open out on the east side. The butterflies can be spectacular, too. Amazingly, no fewer than 39 species have been recorded. One of the highlights at Kingley Vale is the chalkhill blue, a species that is common here in July and August, but generally restricted in this country to southern England. If you visit the chalk downland and scrub at the bottom of the hill, sooner or later you will find the hill itself irresistible, and feel compelled to climb. It is worse than it looks, particularly towards the top. However, it is well worth it, and not just for the view. Kingley Vale encompasses 14 ancient monuments, including bronze age burial mounds and most of these are up here. |
Spurn Point, East Yorkshire Travel time Hull 55 minutes The peninsula at Spurn is not one of the most scenic sites but it has an otherworldliness that is attractive and unmistakable. It is also, arguably, the best site in Britain for birdwatching, at least on the mainland. Spurn is a magnet for rarities, and on a good day, especially in autumn, the excitement on the peninsula is palpable. Spurn Point is 32 miles south-east of Hull. Go east along the A1033 to Patrington, then south-east on the B1445 to Easington and onward to the minor road to Kilnsea. You can park here or continue to the Bluebell Café, where there is a car park and visitor centre, or to Warren Cottage, where the old bird observatory is still based. Spurn Point protrudes 3½ miles into the mouth of the Humber estuary, the huge cleft on the east coast that drains one-fifth of England. The coastline of shifting sands is dynamic and unpredictable. A severe storm surge in 2013 washed away a section of the peninsula, including the access road to the Point below the old observatory, and these days this breach is covered by high tides and the road is no longer used for traffic. When visiting, keep an eye on the tide times to make sure you aren’t cut off. The area is largely open access and you can walk at your leisure. The mix of habitat includes the dunes, the North Sea and beach (the rare little tern breeds nearby), the saltmarsh on the landward side, some chalk grassland, some fresh water, and stands of bushes and trees, the latter providing cover for migratory birds. Grey seals and dolphins (even whales) are sometimes seen offshore. |
Dancing Ledge, Dorset Travel time Poole 40 minutes, Bournemouth 50 minutes This short stretch of the Jurassic Coast offers you almost everything: marvellous views over the Channel, lots of wildlife, an adventurous scramble, an unexpected swimming site, some tasty forage and a dose of history. Park at the end of Durnford Drove and from there it is a quick trot across the fields to Spyway Barn, a listed building dating from the early 19th century, once a haunt of smugglers. Just beyond, the commanding view of the sea is overwhelming, and both ravens and peregrines, together with the abundant jackdaws, ride the breezes at the top of the steep slope. In spring and summer, look down at your feet, because the limestone soil hosts many unusual plants such as the rare early spider orchid in profusion in April and early May. Look too in July for the Lulworth skipper, one of Britain’s rarest butterflies. In fact, the next step requires you to keep looking down, because you’ll be dropping to what looks like the cliff edge and the South West Coastal Path – it is very steep and easy to lose your footing. Stonechats and linnets are abundant on the slope, as are whitethroats in the summer. Take time to admire the chalk grassland plants you pass on the way, such as salad burnet, yellow rattle and cowslip. By the time you reach the bottom of the slope, you are likely to be able to make out small, bobbing shapes on the sea. There is a seabird cliff here, and for much of the year it is possible to watch shags and guillemots swimming, sometimes with razorbills among them. Dancing Ledge is most famous, though, for its puffins, which can be seen here from late March to July. There are only a handful – nothing like the numbers found in northern Britain – but these are the nearest puffins to London. They are small and easy to miss, but they are often just offshore. |