As wonderful as it most certainly is to look out of the window at home to see what wild garden birds come a-visiting on a regular basis, you can really up the ante when it comes to your bird-watching ambitions if you plan day trips or weekends away with this pursuit in mind.
But where to go?
To help you decide which twitching hotspot to put at the top of your must-visit list, we’ve compiled a rundown of some of our favourite places around the country. Let us know which of these you’ve been to and what birds you spotted while there!
Bempton Cliffs
The RSPB Bempton Cliffs reserve can be found on the spectacular Yorkshire coast and it’s here that you’ll be blessed with some of the best wildlife spectacles in the whole of the UK.
Between March and August (so you still have time!), around half a million seabirds flock to the site for the nesting season, with the North Sea serving as a beautiful backdrop against which to raise a family.
This is also an amazing place to spot puffins (fabulous!), as well as guillemots, kittiwakes, gannets, skylarks, linnets, kestrels, barn owls, short-eared owls, corn buntings and a whole lot more.
South Stack Cliffs
Pop off to Holyhead in Anglesey and you’ll find the resplendent South Stack Cliffs, an RSPB reserve where heath and farmland meet rugged coastal cliffs in very dramatic fashion indeed.
These cliffs are a really important breeding ground for guillemots, puffins and razorbills in spring, so if these are high on your bird-watching list, perhaps book a trip in for next year. Keep a weather eye out for peregrines, as well!
The Farne Islands
Northumberland’s Farne Islands is always an exciting place to visit, a national nature reserve and site of special scientific interest that’s home to one of the most significant breeding seabird colonies to be found in the UK.
All in all, you’ll discover 23 different species, with 200,000 birds flying about during the summer months, which really is a sight to behold. And you’ll also be able to spot Atlantic grey seals and their pups if you visit in autumn, with over 2,000 born in the area each year.
Minsmere Nature Reserve
Make your way to Westleton in Suffolk to pay the Minsmere Nature Reserve a visit, where you’ll find some of the UK’s rarest wildlife. Birds to spot here include bitterns, bearded tits and avocets – and don’t forget to keep your eye on the reedbed pools either, as you may be lucky enough to see otters swimming about, as well.
The different landscapes to be found in the nature reserve will keep you well entertained and here you’ll find lagoons, reedbeds, grassland, vegetated shingle and heathland. Wildlife of note includes otters, marsh harriers, water voles, nightjars, adders, silver-studded blue butterflies, woodlarks and – most excitingly – rare stone-curlews.
Of course, these are just four of the best places to go bird-watching. If you have a favourite that we’ve left off the list, drop us a line to tell us all about it!
