52 Wildlife Weekends

Bradt s popular guidebook 52 Wildlife Weekends suggests inspiring itineraries for 52 unforgettable British wildlife-watching breaks, stretching from the Isles of Scilly to northern Scotland each perfectly timed for every week of the year. Thoroughly updated to reflect Britain s ever-changing natural history, this second edition integrates the latest information on the country s most thrilling wildlife experiences, suggests new target species and showcases fabulous new locations. Written by award-winning author and experienced naturalist James Lowen, 52 Wildlife Weekends remains the only guide to package Britain s nature-watching highlights into deftly timed, user-friendly holiday suggestions. Say it s February and you want to watching otters. Or May: time for spring flowers and bewitching butterflies. Or July, and you fancy marvelling at dragonflies. Or October: the height of bird migration. Whenever in the year you get a chance to escape, this book suggests 48 hours worth of brilliant wildlife-watching perfect for staycations, whether as a weekend or part of a longer holiday. 52 Wildlife Weekends suggests a year s worth of short breaks celebrating the full range of Britain's most exciting wildlife, from tiny silver-spotted skipper butterflies to gargantuan basking sharks, and from seabird skyscrapers to ostentatious orchids. Covering more than 40 counties or regions, this unique guide offers engaging descriptions, detailed directions (including grid references and postcodes), accommodation suggestions, and assessments of accessibility and (new for this edition) child-friendliness, plus 180 mouth-watering colour photographs. Find out how, where and when to track down such thrilling creatures as beavers and basking sharks, eagles and otters, dolphins and dragonflies, glow worms and grey seals. Why not open the New Year on a real-life wild goose chase in the Inner Hebrides? Or make a spring pilgrimage to Yorkshire to see truly wild daffodils? Or experience underwater life by peering into rivers for rare fish in Powys, snorkelling in Dorset, or rock-pooling in Devon? Or gawp at starling murmurations, shape-shifting through the autumnal sky, in Suffolk or Somerset. Combining the very best of travel and wildlife guides, and covering both well-known spectacles and less familiar species, Bradt s 52 Wildlife Weekends has something for everyone wildlife experts and novice ecotourists alike.

January

1 Wild goose chases and whisky chasers

Argyll & Bute for barnacle goose, Greenland white-fronted goose, white-tailed eagle, otter, goose barnacle

2 Meres, fens and washes

Cambridgeshire for Chinese water deer, bittern, Bewick’s swan, whooper swan, hen harrier

3 Larking about

Hampshire for red deer, roe deer, wood lark, great grey shrike, hawfinch

4 Seal of approval

Durham for harbour seal, grey seal, long-eared owl, waxwing, snow bunting

5 Seaduck go Forth!

Fife & East Lothian for velvet scoter, long-tailed duck, Slavonian grebe, white-tailed eagle, sea buckthorn bracket

February

6 Touting for Tarka

Northumberland for otter, red squirrel, Mediterranean gull, willow tit, twite

7 Whirling waders, gathering geese, aerial attacks

Lancashire for otter, whooper swan, pink-footed goose, starling roost, scarlet elf cup

8 Kite-flying and Welsh witches

Powys for red kite, raven, dipper, witches beard, Wilson’s filmy fern

9 Dark Peak, white hare

Derbyshire for mountain hare, peregrine, curlew, raven, red grouse

March

10 From rifles to Ratty

Greater London & Kent for water vole, heronry, Caspian gull, long-eared owl, rook roost

11 Serpents of the sandlings

Suffolk for adder, Mediterranean gull, Dartford warbler, brown hare, mossy stonecrop

12 Daff's in t’dale

North Yorkshire for wild daffodil, red grouse, goshawk, gannet, kittiwake

13 Wailing heath chicken run

Suffolk & Norfolk for stone-curlew, stoat, grape hyacinth, Breckland speedwell, fingered speedwell

April

14 Sand and deliver!

Devon for sand crocus, sand lizard, narrow-headed ant, rockpool species, cirl bunting

15 A rabble of reptiles

Dorset for eight species of reptile, natterjack toad, sika, early spider orchid, emperor moth

16 Snakes and snake’s heads

Gloucestershire & Wiltshire for wild boar, adder, goshawk, pied flycatcher, snake’s-head fritillary

17 Highland spring, famous grouse

Highland for black grouse, osprey, golden eagle, pine marten, Kentish glory

May

18 Dukes and ladies

Kent for lady orchid, bluebell,shingle plants, Duke of Burgundy, dew moth

19 Fantastic fish – and fishers

Radnorshire & Carmarthenshire for sea lamprey, brook lamprey, badger, osprey, wood warbler

20 Pembrokeshire parrots, mystical Manxies

Pembrokeshire for Manx shearwater, puffin, gannet, bluebell, red campion

21 Does the lady’s slipper fit?

Yorkshire & Cumbria for lady’s slipper, coralroot orchid, pearl-bordered fritillary, white-spotted sable, natterjack toad

22 Machair marvels, streaming skuas

Outer Hebrides for machair plants including orchids, corncrake, breeding waders, long-tailed skua, moss carder bee

July

27 Butterfly high season

Cumbria for high brown fritillary, mountain ringlet, large heath, dune helleborine, dark-red helleborine

28 Island intensity

Northumberland for Arctic tern, roseate tern, puffin, dune helleborine, ballan wrasse

29 There be dragons... and dolphins

Inverness-shire for northern emerald, northern damselfly, bumblebee robberfly, creeping lady’s-tresses, bottlenose dolphin

30 Snorkelling and skippers

Dorset for corkwing wrasse, Lulworth skipper, small red damselfly, heath tiger beetle, Dorset heath

31 Shark!

Cornwall & Devon for blue shark, harbour porpoise, beaver, greater horseshoe bat, silver-studded blue

August

32 Basking on the Lizard

Cornwall for Cornish heath, bog asphodel, chough, basking shark, red-veined darter

33 Mad Manx and mountains

Ceredigion & Snowdonia for Manx shearwater, osprey, sand lizard, marsh helleborine, feral goat

34 Pelagic paradise

Isles of Scilly for Wilson’s storm-petrel, great shearwater, common dolphin, grey seal, rockpool life

35 Dragonfly delights

Essex & Kent for southern migrant hawker, scarce emerald damselfly, shrill carder bee, water vole, great crested newt

September

36 Chiltern challenge

Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire for edible dormouse, brown hairstreak, silver-spotted skipper, glowworm, Chiltern gentian

37 Webs, willows and wanderers

Suffolk for fen raft spider, willow emerald damselfly, convolvulus hawk-moth, badger, polecat/ferret 38 The Flamborough front

East Yorkshire for gannet, sooty shearwater, pomarine skua, red-backed shrike, rockpool life

39 Blubber and bucks

Norfolk for harbour seal, fallow deer, bearded tit, yellow-browed warbler, dune waxcap

October

40 Winner takes all

Suffolk for red deer rut, otter, bearded tit, bittern, little stint

41 Scilly season

Isles of Scilly for migrant birds, lesser white-toothed shrew, basking shark, prickly stick-insect, crimson speckled

42 Don’t spurn the chance

East Yorkshire for migrant songbirds, estuary waders, long-eared owl, woodcock

43 Estuarine exodus

Cheshire & Conwy for pygmy shrew, harvest mouse, feral goat, short-eared owl, chough

44 Leap of faith

North Yorkshire for the salmon run, roe deer, red squirrel, dipper, common crossbill

November

45 Yew and yours

Sussex for huge yews, fly agaric, water shrew, water vole, brent goose

46 Otterly fabulous!

Argyll & Bute for pine marten, otter, red squirrel, golden eagle, white-tailed eagle

47 Weekly pupdate

Lincolnshire for pupping grey seal, brent goose, knot, peregrine, Lapland bunting

48 Murmuration

Somerset, Avon & Gloucestershire for Cheddar whitebeam, starling roost, Eurasian white-fronted goose, Bewick’s swan, crane

December

49 Hundreds and thousands

Norfolk for pink-footed goose, whooper swan, wader spectacular, shore lark, snow bunting

50 Hoary and holy

Northumberland for pale-bellied brent goose, long-tailed duck, common scoter, Slavonian grebe, waxwing

51 Ruling the roost

Norfolk Broads for starling roost, rook roost, crane, Chinese water deer, grey seal

52 Capital birding

Greater London for red deer, black-necked grebe, bittern, jack snipe, ring-necked parakeet roost

Further Information 217

Index of sites 219

Index of species 223