Mammals and Wildlife around England
Hi,
My parents have decided to let me study a semester in a Boarding School in England and I would obviously like to search for some animals while staying there, so maybe someone knows a couple interesting places i could take some time to visit, presumably in the Northern Part of England around Manchester (Or really anywhere, but I don’t know how much I am going to be able to move around alone).
My main objectives are:
- Reeves Muntjac
- Chinese Water Deer
- Eurasian Beaver
- Hazel dormouse
- Harbour Porpoise
- Seals (Grey or Common)
Any other animal would be useful too, but these are the ones I am most excited to try and see.
Also if someone knows some information about adders and Great Crested Newst that would be much helpful.
Lastly, I know there may be some introduced Red-Necked Wallabys, but the information on the Internet about them is pretty non-existent, but I think trying to find them may be fun.
Thank you
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14 Comments
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JeffHigdon
I’ve only been in the London area, but it’s easy to get to London from Manchester on the train. And London itself has a great transit network. Information shared below is largely specific to that part of England, but may be helpful if you end up down there at any point.
I saw two muntjac alongside the highway from a bus (coming back to London from Bath), and saw another in a sports field from a train (between the Hersham and Walton-on-Thames stations). These were both fleeting glimpses from moving vehicles, but I did manage a good sighting (and photos) on foot, at a place called Grim’s Dyke, in Harrow, NW London. I booked us into the hotel there (Best Western Plus Grim’s Dyke Hotel) specifically because the hotel website said they have muntjac on the grounds. That said, I worked very hard for my one sighting and spent a lot of time walking the trail network on the hotel grounds and the adjacent Old Redding Nature Preserve. It’s a beautiful area, with nice trails through forest, and you can access it without staying at the hotel. But the mammal-watching there was a bit disappointing overall (no luck with bat detecting for example, although it was also cold and wet), and I’m sure there are better places to see muntjac. But if you end up in that part of the country at any point, it’s worth checking out the trail network. I didn’t see any, but there are great crested newts at Grim’s Dyke as well.
I haven’t seen any of your other main targets there, but both grey and harbour seals are widely distributed in coastal areas and I would imagine they can be seen close to Liverpool. There are tour companies that do whale and sealwatching trips, but none around the Liverpool/Manchester area as far as I know. There are definitely some tour operators on the east coast, in the SE England area.
In the London area, the larger Royal Parks are worth a visit. I only went to Richmond Park, but it’s the largest of the parks and has a good variety of habitat. I went there specifically to see red and fallow deer, and found both, and had a number of different bat species detected using my Echo Meter detector.
One place in London I had really hoped to visit was the London Wetland, which is reportedly one of the best places to find water voles. I couldn’t make the timing work out, unfortunately. I did see a water vole in the town of Woking (along the Basingstoke Canal), but I don’t think it’s worth going there for that species as there are better options such as the London Wetland (I was in Woking for work, so made the most of my opportunities there but wouldn’t have been there if I was planning a trip on my own).
Good luck! Chinese water deer is a species I was keen to see, but we weren’t able to get to a location for them anywhere.
Jeff
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Lenaryo
Hi, we were on a roadtrip at the UK this year in May and saw nearly everything you want to see. The Muntjac is very widespread in Norfolk and Suffolk area. We saw some near the road on the early morning birding sessions we did. Best view we had was of course from a hide at Bawdsey Hall. We also saw Badger, Hedgehog, Brown Rats and Grey Squirrels there.
Best to see Chinese Water Deer are The Broads. We visited several RSPBs, which are a known areas, but the only area we saw them was at Strumpshaw Fen. We saw more than 12 individuals in 3 hours, some quite close, some in quite a distance. I would recommend this place for them.
We looked for Beavers in Scotland, because the chances there are best. We had a tour with Bob from Nature Nuts and saw beavers. 3 beaver families were around. We also had another beaver tour with Aquila Ecology. This tour was also very good, although we saw no Beaver due to some fishermen who disturbed us. There were 2 beaver families nearby. I can remember from my search that Devon was also a good place for Beaver.
I also really wished to see Hazel dormouse and contacted several people for that. Most didn´t want to take other people to their places. I had luck with Kathryn from Surrey Dormouse Group. She offered us to join a dormice survey and we saw 3 Hazel Dormice with her. You could try to contact her or try your luck at North West Dormouse Partnership. That should be nearest to you. In Devon area was a also a group where it was possible to join dormice surveys.
Seals are kinda everywhere to see. Just take a boattrip or when you are at Norfolk/Suffolk for Muntjac and Chinese Water Deer, you can visit Horsey Gap. This is for example a well known area for large seal groups.
We didn´t saw Porpoises on our UK trip, but we haven´t looked for them, because we saw them already on Iceland and northern Germany.
Other mammals we saw and I haven´t mentioned yet were: Red Fox, Red Deer, Fallow Deer, Mountain Hare, European Hare, Pine Marten, Eurasian Otter, American Mink, Badger and Red Squirrel.
Good luck and fun while studying in England 🙂 -
Iwan Roberts
An excellent place to see Harbour Porpoise is Point Lynas in Anglesey. The overfalls just offshore are a regular haunt. You also stand an excellent chance of seeing Risso’s Dolphin at this time of year. You will also encounter Grey Seal, Northern Gannet almost every time, and Manx Shearwater in season. Your best bet would be staying in a B&B nearby or at the lighthouse cottages if you are in a larger group. If reliant on public transport you could take a train to Holyhead and use local buses and taxis.
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Pouti
Sorry – Hello, if you can travel a bit in the UK (a few hours of train for example), Western Scotland is a very good place for the marine mammals species you are looking for : around Oban, the Inner Hebrides, any loch on the west coast, with 1 or 2 trips on a boat, or some hours of observation, you may see Harbour porpoises ; and seals are everywhere and very easy to spot. If you cannot, I think the central / northern west coast of England is probably good too, but I don’t know it. Good luck !
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philipprecey
for Porpoise, a visit to Bempton Cliffs RSPB reserve in Yorkshire should see you right, with Grey Seal and a chance of Bottle-nosed Dolphins there too, plus the spectacle of nesting gannets and auks in summer.
There are released Beavers at Willington Wetlands Derbyshire Wildlife Trust reserve, but within an enclosure.
Strumpshaw Fen or Hickling Broad in Norfolk will get you Chinese Water Deer, nearby Horsey Gap will have both species of seal (hundreds/thousands of Grey, and a handful of Common, depending on time of year) and it’s almost impossible not to bump into Muntjac on a day out in Norfolk, but the woods/grazing marshes at Holkham NNR are as good a spot as any.
Adders you can find on a spring visit to Norfolk, to coincide with the seals and deer: try Kelling Heath.
or nearer to Stoke on Trent, in the Peak District National Park, there are Adders on the Eastern Peak District Moors and in the Goyt valley. And Great Crested Newts shouldn’t be too hard to find in dew ponds in the White Peak.
The wallabies in the Peak District died out a couple of decades ago, but there are Mountain Hare and Red Deer.
and try getting in touch with one of the local bat groups.
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Farnborough John
The situation with European Beaver has changed to make it much easier recently. Beavers can be seen easily in the centre of Canterbury, Kent, along the River Stour, on the stretch by the coach park where tourist coaches park up (it is near a Sainsbury’s superstore.) There are 51 territories up and down the river but the city centre is fine: evenings are best. Brown Rat is easy there too…..
Another good place for Chinese Water Deer is Woodwalton Fen in Cambridgeshire (which also has Muntjac): they can be encountered in and around the reedbeds and willow carr but also feed in the fields around the core of the reserve.
If you are going to be in Manchester then Anglesey in North Wales is an accessible place with Harbour Porpoises and fairly frequent sightings of Risso’s and Bottlenose Dolphins. South Stack RSPB almost always has Porpoises offshore from the clifftop viewpoints.
Personally I wouldn’t bother with deer park herds but there are Red Deer in Cumbria (not always easy) and almost anywhere in the Scottish Highlands: they are also in Cannock Chase and in the New Forest in Hampshire where they are most frequently seen around the Ober Water area – Fallow Deer can be encountered almost anywhere in the New Forest.
Hazel Dormice are extremely difficult and it is illegal to disturb them e.g. by investigating nestboxes: it is sometimes possible to join a licensed nestbox check as an observer.
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BKG09
Thanks everyone very much the information is being very useful, I already saw Muntjac in a couple of places and other 7 mammal species (the best ones being Red Deer and Badger), as I am already at the Boarding school I don’t have much time to go out, but as soon as I have a free weekend or something I am surely trying a couple of these places. 🙂
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Warren Gilson
Hey BKG09, just saw this news article (June 2024) re beavers near Stoke on Trent https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crgg756glejo
Good luck! -
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mikehoit
Hi
Do you know which part of the country you would be at school in? That would help narrow down areas to look for your targets.
In the southern half of the country, Muntjac is abundant (too abundant!) and easy to see. There are several good areas for the seals, for example in Norfolk, where Harbour Porpoise is fairly frequent (although I don’t see it as often as I used to) . Feel free to drop me an email and I’ll help out where I can – mikee_hoit@hotmail.com.
All the best, Mike