Tips on where to find the wild creatures in UK cities, from otters in the Glaswegian stretch of the Clyde to peregrine falcons in the City of London
London
From Wimbledon Common in the west to Rainham Marshes in the east, the capital is packed with excellent wildlife sites. The home of the Wombles is superb for woodland birds, mammals, and insects including stag beetles, while the RSPB reserve at Rainham attracts a wide range of breeding and wintering birds. Richmond Park and Bushy Park are home to herds of red and fallow deer while a more recent arrival, ring-necked parakeets, screech around their airspace. Check out the WWT’s London Wetland Centre in Barnes for a wealth of birdlife, including wintering bitterns and summering peregrine falcons, kingfishers and sand martins. The river Thames can be excellent for birds, including little egrets, cormorants and great crested grebes, while dragonflies and damselflies are common in summer. In central London, keep an eye out for peregrines over the Barbican Centre and perching on Tate Modern on the South Bank.
Manchester
Manchester is perhaps not the best-known urban area for wildlife in the UK, although Moston Fairway, within the city boundaries, is a precious remnant of marshland. It is home to a wide range of wetland plants including southern marsh orchids, along with a wealth of bird and insect life. Outside the city centre, the Greater Manchester area extending north and west into Lancashire contains some truly excellent places to watch wildlife. To the west, Astley Moss is one of the last remaining areas of wet bog in the region, a haven for breeding curlews, whinchats and willow tits, along with wintering short-eared owls, hen harriers (pictured right) and merlins. Many other reserves in this area have been creatively developed from former industrial sites. Two of these lie alongside the M6 to the north and south of Manchester: Brockholes in Preston and Woolston Eyes near Warrington, both of which are home to a wide range of wetland birds.
Birmingham
Known for having more miles of canals than Venice, Birmingham’s wildlife is often overlooked. Moseley Bog and Joy’s Wood nature reserve to the south of the city centre is a great place to start. This childhood haunt of The Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien comprises an area of damp, boggy woodland with adjacent grassy areas. It is home to a wide range of breeding birds including several species of warbler from April onwards and a stunning display of bluebells from mid-April into May. On the eastern edge of the city, Park Hall is a mixture of woodland, farmland and wetland, with great crested newts, woodland and waterside plants in spring, and plenty of fungi in autumn. Rowley Hills is a new wildlife trust reserve, home to several species of grassland butterflies including marbled white, while Hill Hook in Sutton Coldfield and Moorcroft Wood in Moxley, Walsall are also well worth a visit.
Glasgow
Like so many British cities, Glasgow is built on a river ? the Clyde ? once ideal for creating an industrial powerhouse, and now excellent for wildlife. Kingfishers are regularly seen along the river, while farther downstream at Port Glasgow there are wintering waterbirds including divers, grebes and sea ducks. The city forefathers also created wildlife havens of their own, in the form of city parks. Pollok country park, three miles south of the city centre, was once a private estate, but is now open to all. Look out for a range of river creatures, including kingfishers, mink and even otters, though these are rarely seen during daylight hours. Perhaps the most surprising wildlife site of all is the Glasgow Necropolis, a fine Victorian cemetery on the hill east of St Mungo’s Cathedral. As well as the usual foxes and grey squirrels, the cemetery is also home to small numbers of roe deer.
Belfast
Northern Ireland’s capital is, like London, Cardiff and Edinburgh, ideally situated for a range of wildlife, being both bisected by the river Lagan and right next to the sea. Bog Meadows nature reserve is the largest natural area in the city centre, and supports waterbirds including grey herons and kingfishers. During the spring and summer there are breeding sedge warblers and sand martins and a wonderful display of marshland plants including ragged robin, early purple orchid, marsh marigold and lady’s-smock. The bog is also excellent for dragonflies and damselflies. Just a few minutes’ drive from the city centre, the RSPB reserve at Belfast harbour is a superb place to see wintering birds from Siberia and Scandinavia, including ducks, geese and waders, while the Belfast Hills above the city are home to peregrines. For a chance to see the most exciting city resident, the red squirrel, check out Colin Glen forest park on the city’s western outskirts.
Newcastle
England’s northernmost city is also one of the best urban areas in the UK for wildlife. Right in the city centre, kittiwakes nest on the metal structure of Tyne bridge. This is the most inland breeding colony of the ocean-going gull in the world and a welcome reminder of the sea. The Tyne is also an excellent site for otters, especially after dark, as is the Big Waters reserve. Situated north of the city centre, the latter is a large, reed-fringed lake, also home to woodland and freshwater birds. Farther north, Plessey Woods country park supports a small population of red squirrels, just managing to hang on here on one of the southern edges of their range. Back in the city centre, check out Jesmond Dene, an oasis of peace and quiet, and home to three delightful waterbirds: kingfisher, dipper and grey wagtail. Or head south of the Tyne into Gateshead to see red kites soaring majestically above the Metro Centre.
Liverpool
The city of the Beatles and the Liver Birds is surprisingly good for wildlife. The lake in Sefton Park, a 235-acre oasis of green in the city centre, is home to waterbirds including great crested grebes and cormorants, while water voles can sometimes be seen around the streams that run into the lake. Court Hey Park is excellent for woodland birds, including nuthatch and a range of breeding warblers in spring and summer. The park is also home to the National Wildflower Centre, a great place to learn about our native plants and flowers. But the jewel in Liverpool’s wildlife crown is without doubt the Mersey. Now that shipping traffic has declined, the river’s estuary supports vast flocks of wintering waders and wildfowl and is internationally important for pintail, teal, wigeon, shelduck, redshank and dunlin. At the mouth of the estuary, Seaforth nature reserve regularly attracts scarce and rare birds, including Leach’s petrels in autumn (usually after fierce north-westerly gales).
Edinburgh
Scotland’s capital is famous for its annual festival, when crowds of visitors throng the streets, but it is also an excellent base for exploring a range of wildlife sites inside and outside the city. The Royal Botanic Garden is a good place to start, while south of Arthur’s Seat, Duddingston Loch is home to a wide range of waterbirds including wintering goldeneye and goosander, and breeding grey heron and sedge warbler. Further east, the Water of Leith which snakes through the city has a 12-mile walkway running alongside it. You have a good chance of seeing herons and kingfishers here and, if you are very lucky, otters. If you have time, it’s well worth taking a boat trip from South Queensferry out into the Firth of Forth, where, in spring and summer, you are likely to see seals, dolphins and a range of seabirds including puffins. You can also take a boat tour around the famous Bass Rock, one of the world’s largest and most spectacular gannet colonies.
Sheffield
Sheffield is one of the greenest cities in Britain, with a range of excellent wildlife sites within the city and plenty of accessible places just outside its boundaries. Close to the centre, the Porter valley is a six-mile long wildlife corridor, passing through a range of locations including Endcliffe Park. Likely sightings include the riverine trio of grey wagtail, dipper and kingfisher, as well as a range of woodland birds including woodpeckers, nuthatch and treecreeper. To the south-west, Eccleshall Woods hosts a similar range of birds. Five miles south-east of the city, Orgreave Lakes, on the site of a former colliery, is a great site for waterbirds, especially wintering ducks. Sheffield is also on the very edge of one of the finest wilderness areas in central England, the Peak District. This national park is home to some scarce moorland species including mountain hare, short-eared owl, red grouse and hen harrier.
Bristol
Home to the world-famous BBC Natural History Unit, it’s perhaps not surprising that Bristol is arguably the best place in Britain to watch urban wildlife. Foxes can often be seen around the city’s leafier suburbs such as Clifton, Redland and Cotham, while badgers are regular (if mainly nocturnal) visitors to parks and gardens in Stoke Bishop. Blaise Castle estate supports a wide range of woodland birds, plants and insects, as do Brandon Hill, closer to the city centre, and Leigh Woods and Ashton Court, just across Brunel’s famous Clifton suspension bridge. But without doubt, the city’s most treasured wildlife area is the magnificent Avon Gorge. This spectacular natural rock formation is home to breeding buzzards, ravens and peregrine falcons, the latter also regularly being seen perching on tall buildings in the city centre. The gorge also boasts some of Britain’s rarest tree species, including up to 20 different species of whitebeam.
Cardiff
The Welsh capital has always been good for wildlife, thanks to its position on the coast and wide range of habitats. Pontcanna Fields and Bute Park offer a range of woodland and wetland walks, with all the usual bird species you would expect. The river Taff, one of Wales’s largest rivers, runs right through the city centre before reaching the sea at Cardiff Bay, and is home to eels, sea trout and most exciting of all, Atlantic salmon, which can, in autumn, be seen leaping over Black weir in Bute Park. Two sites just outside the city are also worth a mention: to the west is Kenfig Dunes national nature reserve, near Porthcawl, with waterbirds including wintering bitterns. And to the east, the Newport Wetlands Reserve, which was created to mitigate environmental damage done by the Cardiff Bay development. The reserve is home to a wealth of wintering wildfowl and waders, including large numbers of wigeons, lapwings and dunlins.
Brighton & Hove
This coastal city (one of Britain’s newest, created in 1997) is a wildlife haven, with a small but thriving population of badgers and the huge gathering of roosting starlings on Palace pier. This truly extraordinary spectacle occurs around dusk from November to March, and often attracts large crowds of tourists as well as birders. On a visit to Brighton marina keep an eye out for seabirds offshore: gannets, auks and skuas regularly pass by, especially during the peak migration seasons of spring and autumn. Being situated in the south-east of Britain, and close to the excellent wildlife habitat of the South Downs, it’s hardly surprising that a wide range of breeding birds and butterflies can be found, including chalkland specialists such as Adonis, chalkhill and small blues. Their strongholds are just outside the city at Devil’s Dyke and other downland sites, but they do sometimes wander inside the city limits.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/19/britain-s-best-urban-wildlife-sites
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