From red squirrels to playful seals: 10 best autumn wildlife sightings
Binoculars at the ready! Here, we pick some of our favourite places to spot this season’s most active animals, birds, insects and fishes
Autumn colours — with landscapes changing from luscious greens to vivid reds, oranges and yellows — aren't the only thing to look out for this season. The animal world is bursting with activity, as many creatures gear up for migration or hibernation, while others make preparations for the colder months ahead by gathering food and building nests.
In fact, it's a great time to spot all kinds of mammals, birds, insects and fishes as they slow down and prepare for the coming months.
From elusive otters in Cornwall to dancing dolphins in Moray Firth, we've rounded up some best wildlife to spot this autumn — and where you'll find them in the UK.
Binoculars at the ready. Below you'll find our favourite places to spot this season’s most active animals, birds, insects and fishes
10 best wildlife sightings for autumn
Scurrying red squirrels
Dorset
Wander round Dorset's Brownsea Island and you might glimpse a pair of curious black eyes watching you or a fluffy red tail disappearing into the canopy.
This National Trust island in Poole Harbour is one of the few places in England where the endangered red squirrel flourishes, protected from its invasive grey cousins. Enjoy their tufty-eared charm as you make your way along the Woodland Walk or near the island's 19th-century villa. Red squirrels are best spotted at quieter times, often at the start and end of each day.
Wading cranes
Somerset
Lost as a breeding species 400 years ago due to disappearing habitats and hunting, the crane — Europe's tallest bird — is now enjoying a renaissance. Between 2010 and 2014, 93 birds were released on the Somerset Levels and moors as part of a conservation programme, and more than 70 pairs have now been recorded across the UK.
Easiest to see out of breeding season, these graceful waders congregate at West Sedgemoor RSPB reserve, a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Head to the Swell Wood viewpoint to spot the birds picking through the reeds or taking to the air with haunting calls.
Playful seals
Pembrokeshire
With about 5,000 Atlantic grey seals living off the Pembrokeshire coast, the sight of a smooth head above the waves is relatively common. In November, seal-watching becomes even easier as they come ashore to pup. At Skomer and Ramsey islands, 500 to 700 pups are born each year, making it one of the UK’s largest grey seal pupping sites.
Watch from footpaths with binoculars or by boat to give the new families space – and always leave lone pups to be found by their mothers, who will be nearby in the water.
Graceful golden eagles
Outer Hebrides
Golden eagles retain a firm stronghold on the rugged Outer Hebrideanislands of North Harris, Lewis and Uist, rising and plunging on the breeze, and feasting on grouse and seabirds.
To up your chances of seeing one of the 90 pairs of graceful predators around the islands, head for the North Harris Eagle Observatory at Glen Meavaig, where a ranger is on hand to answer any questions and help you locate them.
Elusive otters
Cornwall
Smart, playful and inquisitive, otters are some of the most enchanting animals to see in the wild. But their shy nature can make them tricky to spot. The rivers Camel and Fowey in mid and north Cornwall offer some of the best chances to spot them.
Keep an eye out in reedbeds, where they like to hunt particularly around dawn and dusk, as well as bankside tree roots, which may hide dens. Telltale trails of bubbles in the water could mean they’ve spotted you first.
Snuffling boars
The Forest of Dean
In the dappled darkness of the Forest of Dean, bristly boars furrow the earth with fugitive fervour. The local sounder – the name for a group of wild boars – made a home for themselves here in the late 1990s, when boars imported for meat escaped into the woods. Now, more than 650 of them roam free, offering a good chance of spotting one on a woodland walk. Look for large areas of disturbed soil, prints and wet hollows, but don’t get too close.
November is the height of mating season, with sows preparing for spring’s piglets, known as “humbugs”, and boars mock-charge if they feel threatened.
Leaping salmon
Northumberland
At this time of year, Hexham Weir in Northumberland comes to life with one of nature’s most spectacular aquatic migrations. As the cold waters of the Tyne cascade over it, the large weir presents one more obstacle for salmon and sea trout as they return to their spawning grounds in the Pennines.
Some 40,000 fish will attempt the upstream battle, leaping high from the river, their iridescent bodies twisting in the froth. Such heroics have been quietly aided since 2016 by a “fish pass” ramp, which offers a helping hand when waters are particularly low.
Silken spider’s webs
Dorset
The sheet and orb webs of 250 native spider species hang like gossamer over Dorset’s lowlands, especially in the mist of autumnal mornings. Look carefully to spot the weavers themselves, including the yellow and black wasp spider, whose web has a zigzag of dense white silk down the centre.
The most elusiveis the ladybird spider, with its red and black spotted abdomen. Thought to be extinct in Britain for 70 years, it was rediscovered in 1980 – 36 now live on the heaths of RSPB reserve Arne.
Dancing dolphins
Moray Firth
This triangular inlet of the North Sea in north-east Scotland offers one of the best opportunities to spot marine mammals in the UK. Here, in tumultuous dark-denim waters, 200 bottlenose dolphins reside year-round as the most northerly population in the world.
Watch them dance in the waves at Spey Bay, where the Scottish Dolphin Centre runs talks and tours. Or head for Cullen Bay on the east of Moray Speyside to spot pods and individuals from the land, looking out for splashes, birds wheeling overhead and ridges in the water – all signs they may be about to come to the surface.
Overwintering swans
County Londonderry
November signals the arrival of whooper swans to the vast mud and sand estuary and salt marshes of Lough Foyle in County Londonderry as they return from their breeding grounds in Iceland and the Arctic tundra. These yellow-billed cousins of our native mute swan make the 600-mile flight in a single journey, calling to each other as they fly to winter somewhere more comfortable.
As the season progresses, the flocks here can number up to 500 birds – a dazzling spectacle against the dark mudflats. Bring your binoculars to also spot smaller waders, such as golden plovers and lapwings, among the blizzard of birds.
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