Parklife

Spotting wildlife

Spotting wildlife about understanding where, when and how to look – and doing so in a way that respects animals and their habitats.

If you enjoy listening to birdsong, the best times are dawn and dusk, when birds are most active. A quiet early morning or evening walk through local parks can reward you with a wealth of activity and to add an extra layer, use a smartphone app to learn bird calls. In our parklands, you may hear the uplifting song of the skylark, famous for its soaring display flights. Look out for the distinctive, undulating flight of a green woodpecker, often found in open grassland and scan the sky for kestrels, which hover in place as they search for prey. Because birds and their nests are legally protected, always keep your distance if you suspect a nest is nearby.

Around dusk, especially near water, tussocky grassland, or woodland edges, look up for the quick, zigzagging flight of bats as they hunt insects. Their rapid wingbeats and sharp changes of direction make them easy to distinguish from birds. If you see bats leaving or returning to a roost, admire them from afar – bat roosts are legally protected, and disturbing them is an offence. Make sure you always take a torch with you if you are out around sunset looking for bats but remember to never shine a torch directly at any wildlife. 

The parks offer great habitats for bats, providing many types of insects that breed in the grasslands and water. There are also many places for them to roost including trees, old buildings in roof spaces, under tiles and in wall cavities.

For the past couple of years, I’ve led a series of twilight bat walks in both Bushy and Home Park, which have been extremely popular.

Although bats often get bad press as a nuisance, people get very excited by these amazing creatures when they actually see them fly and learn about the importance of this precious habitat to their survival.

In late summer, the park bats take centre stage. They mate in September, so there’s lots of activity, the youngsters are stretching their wings and they’re feeding more before hibernation. Late summer twilight is a great time to see them. Different species feed in different areas, to avoid competing for prey.