Wildlife

SECRET BRITAIN: PART II To enjoy wildlife, you need knowledge. Field guides are good, but experts are better. At the sites below, look for someone with a particularly well-worn pair of boots – and ask. It is a rare enthusiast who will refuse to help a beginner

1 Slievenacloy Nature

Reserve

Belfast

The Ulster Wildlife Trust calls this “a lush and secretive valley hidden behind the Belfast Hills and offering breathtaking views”. On a clear day, every county except Fermanagh can be seen. It has heath, unimproved grassland and waters that attract dragonflies. There are seven species of orchid found here, the skylark’s rising song is ever-present in summer and Irish hares are resident. Bilberry grow here, and the presence of waxcap fungi indicates the grasslands are of high quality. The devil’s-bit scabious grows, sustaining a population of marsh fritillary butterflies.

2 Loch of the Lowes

Perthshire

This is the best, and least crowded, place in Britain to watch ospreys, who have built their eyrie just 200 metres from a hide. They first appeared just weeks after the Scottish Wildlife Trust opened the reserve in 1969. It is six miles from Perth, has a visitor centre, and hides with wheelchair access. From these hides you can see not only the big fish hawks, but also roe and fallow deer, red squirrel, crossbill, kingfisher, and three species of grebe – Slavonian, great crested, and little – breed here. In winter thousands of greylag geese descend on the loch, joining the goldeneye, wigeon and pochard.

3 Salthill Quarry

Lancashire

This site, near Clitheroe, is remarkable not only for its wildlife, but for its geology. Fossilised rocks are common in parts of the reserve, and children are often captivated by the ones that look like a pile of Polo mints. These are crinoids, the remains of sea lilies cast in stone, and thought to be 340 million years old. Ones lying around can be collected, although any hammering at rocks is completely banned. Outstanding plants include the autumn gentian, now coming into flower, there are painted lady and common blue butterflies, and it’s a rare visit when you don’t see a hovering kestrel.

4 Wye Valley Reserves

Derbyshire

One of the very choicest parts of the Peaks – three reserves that stretch for four miles near Buxton. Chee Dale has a 200ft deep limestone gorge, whose river is home to water voles, grey wagtails and dippers, the bird that keeps on flexing its legs. Miller’s Dale, an old quarry, has steep ash woods that are good for orchids (coming to an end now, so hurry). Priestcliffe has wonderful grasslands and superb views, and on the Monsal Trail you can walk the old Manchester-London railway line. Butterflies include the dark green fritillary and the brown argus, and there are always kestrel hunting.

5 Thorswood

Weaver Hills, Staffordshire

Here is 150 acres of grassland full of flowers, upland heath, open water and stunning views. In the meadows that have been kept mercifully free of chemicals are growing devils-bit scabious, ox- eye daisy, betony (often mistaken for an orchid), and knapweed. There are hares (they’re bigger than rabbits with black tips to their ears), Iron Age barrows and dragonflies hunting over the pools. There are trail leaflets available and its important to keep to the designated tracks, as this is old mining country and falling down a disused shaft would rather spoil your day. If it’s a bit chilly or damp, there’s a barn in which to picnic.

6 Gigrin Farm

Rhayader, Powys

One of the great wildlife spectacles in Britain can be seen at this working sheep farm. Every day at 3pm in the summer (2pm in winter), what BBC ‘Wildlife’ magazine described as “the largest, most fantastic bird table in the world” is laid. Food is put out for the area’s red kites, and often hundreds swirl in from miles around to take their meat. They are joined by buzzards, ravens and there is even a five-year-old kite with a completely white plumage. Viewing (and photographing) is from five hides, three with wheelchair access, and admission costs just 4 for adults, and 1.50 for children over five.

7 Cors Goch

Anglesey

Fen, grassland and heath in a long and shallow valley near Bangor. This was the North Wales Wildlife Trust’s first reserve. The last of its impressive variety of orchids is now showing, and the meadows have enough wild flower colour to thrill the painter or photographer. The marsh gentian, and grass of Parnassus are the late- summer summer specialities, soon approaching their best. There are boardwalks through the wettest parts, which is just as well since this is one of the few Welsh sites for the medicinal leech. Birds include snipe, buzzard, stonechats and, in autumn and winter, marsh and hen harriers.

8 Horner Woods

Somerset

This is one of the finest ancient oakwoods in Britain. Set in a deep combe, through which Horner Water tumbles, it is the original enchanted wood, up whose rising tracks to the moorland you can walk for miles. There are more than 330 types of lichen (an indicator of the wonderful air here), dippers by the rocky waters, pied flycatchers in the trees, and butterflies like the silver-washed fritillary. Just a few miles from Minehead, the wood is grazed by red deer, and is a wonderfully cool sanctuary on a hot day. Fungi include the shaggy ink cap and sulphur polymore, and there is a quality tea-room by the car park.

9 Bovey Heathfield

Devon

Lowland heath reserve run by the Devon Wildlife Trust, which has more than 60 notable, endangered, or protected species. There are three types of heather here, and within them lurk slow worms, adders and lizards. Over its waters are no fewer than 20 species of dragonfly, and over the whole of the 50-acre site are more than 300 species of spider. Birds include the Dartford warbler, and, at dusk you might hear the churring of nightjars, often likened to a distant, low-powered motorbike. Plants include the insect-eating sundew, and the parasitic lousewort (prettily pink, despite its name) and the stringy dodder.

11 Noar Hill

Hampshire

A western outcrop of the South Downs near Selbourne, home of naturalist Gilbert White who called it “a noble chalk promontory”. The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust has cleared much scrub on what is now one of the most valuable chalk downlands in Britain. Here are 11 types of orchid, most of which are now over, but the autumn gentian is just coming into its own. Some 35 species of butterfly breed here including the brown hairstreak, Duke of Burgundy, marbled white and silver-washed fritillary. There are glow- worms, and the curious fairy shrimp, which lives in puddles, and survives drought as an egg.

13 Camley Street Natural Park

London

Visit this oasis a mere 10-minute walk from King’s Cross, and you would never guess it was once a coalyard. Created in 1984, it has woodland, a pond, and marshy areas beside the Regent’s Canal. Kingfishers and heron are regularly seen. There are reed warblers, willow warblers and coot, and the rare earthstar fungi. Dragonflies include the emperor, migrant hawker and ruddy darter, and among the butterflies are the holly blue, orange tip and Essex skipper. The site’s volunteer staff welcome children. There is an education centre and a lively school holiday programme, including pond dipping.

14 Rye Meads

Hertfordshire

Ancient flood meadow, marshes, reedbeds, wet woodland, old gravel pits and lagoons in the Lea Valley wetlands complex that stretches from the Thames way up into rural Herts. Run jointly by the Hertfordshire Wildlife Trust and the RSPB, it has snipe, golden plover, teal, kingfisher, little ringed plover, common tern, redshank and, in winter, you might hear bittern (their boom sounds like someone blowing over the top of a large, empty milk bottle). A good place to see autumn migrants, it also has thriving populations of water voles, water shrews and harvest mice and is a stronghold of the otters that have

re-colonised the Lea Valley recently.

15 Warburg

Oxfordshire

This Wildlife Trust reserve near Henley contains some of the most peaceful landscape in all Oxfordshire. Set in a secluded Chilterns valley, it has 264 acres of woodland, chalk grassland, coppice and little waters over which bats can be seen hunting in twilight. By day, this is red kite country: at times a dozen or more can be seen wheeling overhead, easily recognised by their size and forked tails. Early summer is a choice time for orchids (15 species have been recorded) and, in late summer and autumn this is one of the best places in the country for fungi with more than 900 different varieties.

16 Redgrave & Lopham Fen

Suffolk

This is the largest valley fen left in England. After peat- cutting and reed harvesting stopped, and post-war drainage was in full cry, the fen began to dry out. But the Suffolk Wildlife Trust has brought back the water, and the result is a flora good enough to count among it butterwort, and plentiful dragonflies, upon which the hobbies feed. There are 27 species of butterflies and Polish Konik ponies, brought in for their discriminating grazing.

17 Snettisham

Norfolk

This relatively well-known RSPB reserve near Hunstanton is included for a spectacle that takes place daily. The incoming tide forces thousands of wading birds on this southern edge of The Wash to leave the mudflats and crowd on to a diminishing area of ground near the hides. Especially good site for common tern, avocet and bar- tailed godwit, and, as the nights draw in, the vast flocks of knot arriving at sunset. Guided walks through August and September.

18 Brockadale

Yorkshire

This dale’s geology has given it a good variety of habitats, and one of the richest floras in the country. Ancient woods, crags, water courses, flood meadows, plantations, scree and magnesian limestone grassland are home to more than 300 species of flowering plants, including rock rose, four species of violet, and lily of the valley. This Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserve, near Kirk Smeaton, also has a good crop of butterflies, with marbled white, speckled wood, holly blue, ringlet and comma. It is one of only two sites in England where the tiny snail, truncatellina cylindrical is found.

19 Low Barns

Durham

More than 120 acres of wetland run by the Durham Wildlife Trust. Developed after the ending of gravel digging along the banks of the Wear, it is a series of interconnected lakes and marsh, criss- crossed by wooden boardwalks. There are plenty of butterflies and dragonflies, stoat, fox and roe deer, but the chief glory is the birdlife. Bittern, hoopoe and wryneck have visited recently, summer migrants include the pied flycatcher, and the wildfowl are at their best in the autumn and winter, with tufted duck, goldeneye and goosander.

20 Falls of Clyde

Strathclyde

This Scottish Wildlife Trust reserve near New Lanark is notable for its four fantastic waterfalls, breeding peregrines, and bees. There are also five species of bat, badgers, water birds such as the dipper and kingfisher, and a wealth of fungi in autumn. It features regular exhibitions and the most recent, a timely Bee Hotel, allowed visitors to peer into a hive containing a colony of around 15,000 bees. The programme of events also includes bat walks, and dusk safaris plus, later in the summer, a tour of some of the site’s fungi. All that and an excellent visitor centre too.

Useful organisations

Wildlife Trusts (wildlifetrusts.org and find your county on the reserves page); Scottish Natural Heritage (snh.org.uk); Forestry Commission (forestry.gov.uk); Woodland Trust (woodland- trust.org.uk); Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (rspb.org.uk).

How to watch wildlife

Go to nature reserves – you’re then guaranteed to see something. Arable farmland can have less wildlife than a city.

Get a decent pair of binoculars. Anything under 100 new is unlikely to do the job properly. Pay attention to field of vision as well as magnification. Wide field is good, narrow will be dim, and show up every tiny shake of the hands.

Get good field guides, but leave them at home. Use your digital camera as a notebook, record that unfamiliar bird, plant or insect, and then check it out with the books at home.

The best way to identify what you’re seeing is ask someone who knows what they’re doing – a passing warden, or someone with a scope. Most will happily share their knowledge.

If with young children, go to somewhere structured and child- friendly, like the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust venues.

Go to what seems a promising location on a reserve and let the wildlife come to you. It’s what nature cameramen do.

10 Chobham Common

Surrey

A vast Surrey Wildlife Trust reserve you could lose yourself in, even on a Bank holiday. Lowland heath at its finest – more than 100 bird species have been recorded including the Dartford warbler, nightjar, hobby and dragonfly-eating hawk, attracted by 22 species of dragonfly. The site is also outstanding for insects (such as this silver studded blue butterfly), and the best place in the country for ladybirds, bees and wasps. There are also pools with water voles, one of 21 different mammals that live here.

photo: wildlife trusts

12 Ebernoe Common

Sussex

An ancient Low Wealden woodland, with oak and ash growing on the clay to the north of the 385-acre site, and beech to the more acidic south. There are wild service trees too, and, in parts, the lemon- scented fern. Bluebells and wild daffodils sprout in spring, but one of the chief glories is still to come: the fungi. More than 840 species have been recorded, including the stinkhorn, beefsteak, and chanterelle. It is one of the best sites in the UK for bats, with 14 of our species being recorded at this Sussex Wildlife Trust site.

photo: wildlife trusts

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