If last year was the one where people started to notice the beauty of the wildlife right on the doorstep during lockdown, this should be the one where we start to get to know some of the best wild places in our own country, rather than presuming that all that is rare and interesting can only be found abroad. Of course, you could head to the famous, crowded and well-trodden nature spots like the New Forest or the Lake District. But then you’d miss out on the joy of really exploring the sort of wild places that naturalists like to keep secret. So here’s a guide to some lesser-spotted wild places around Britain: just don’t tell anyone else about them.
Silverdale
This really is a lovely Lancashire village on the sea, with so many different spots for really rare and exciting wildlife. At the RSPB Leighton Moss Nature Reserve, you can watch starling murmurations as the sun sets in the winter, see the amusingly-named bearded tits hopping about in the reed beds, and spot ospreys fishing. It’s a rare day when you don’t see a marsh harrier swooping over the reserve, and there are also otters, kingfishers and wading birds like avocets.
Just down the road from Leighton Moss is Gait Barrows National Nature Reserve, home to one of the very few Lady’s Slipper Orchids that’s not hidden away from the public. These wild plants grow on the bizarre-looking limestone pavement at the reserve, which also has beautiful dark-red helleborine orchids, the very stylish herb Paris, and the rare bird’s-eye primrose. The village itself has a stunning meadow of green-winged and early purple orchids at The Lots, which is managed by the National Trust, and you must also head down to the sea at Jenny Brown’s Point for more wild flowers, including the Autumn Ladies Tresses orchid.
Breckland
If the limestone pavements of Lancashire seem strange, the landscape of the Brecks in Norfolk and Suffolk will knock you out.
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