Wildlife spectacles in the United Kingdom
29 spectacles through the year, ordered by when they peak. Open United Kingdom in the interactive calendar for the map and listening times.
Common frog & toad spawningSoft purring of frog aggregations and the high 'quark' release calls of toads — best close-up or with a hydrophone.
Bitterns boomingThe deep boom (fundamental around 150 Hz, carrying over 3 km), plus water rail squeals, reed and sedge warblers, and marsh harriers.
Black grouse leksBubbling 'rookooing' from displaying males, hissing 'tchu-wee' sneezes and flutter jumps; curlew and snipe often in the same soundscape.
Woodcock rodingCroaking 'grunt-grunt-tswick' of males flying circuits over the canopy, often with nightjar or tawny owl later.
Natterjack toad chorusThe loudest amphibian in Britain — a rolling, ratcheting chorus audible up to 2 km away across dunes.
Nightingales singingFull nocturnal nightingale song, often with several males counter-singing; tawny owls and the first dawn birds behind.
Upland wader breeding songBubbling curlew song, snipe drumming (tail feathers), lapwing display flights, the mournful golden plover whistle, and greenshank 'tew-tew' over bog pools.
Woodland dawn chorus peakFull layered chorus: robin, blackbird and song thrush first, then wren, warblers, chaffinch; in western oakwoods add wood warbler trills, redstart and pied flycatcher.
Corncrakes callingThe rasping 'crex-crex' from iris beds and meadows, with snipe, redshank and the sea behind.
Manx shearwaters returning at nightHundreds of thousands of birds crashing in, with cackling, choking, hoarse calls from the air and burrows all around you.
Tyne kittiwakes — the urban colonyAbout 800 pairs of oceanic gulls calling 'kitti-wake' from the Tyne Bridge girders and the Baltic art gallery ledges, echoing between the bridges over the river and city traffic.
Seabird citiesA wall of seabird calls: gannet grating, kittiwakes calling their name, guillemot growls, puffin burrow moans, sea and wind below.
Bottlenose dolphins from the shoreWith a hydrophone: whistles, clicks, and burst pulses. Above water: blows and splashes very close to shore.
Nightjars churringContinuous mechanical churring with changes of gear, wing-claps, 'coo-ick' flight calls, with tree pipits and woodlarks at dusk.
Swift screaming partiesHigh-speed screaming packs racing around rooftops, doppler passes at head height, and the sound of summer evenings.
Storm petrels at Mousa BrochPurring and hiccupping from inside the Iron Age broch walls, and the bat-like flutter of returning birds passing your head.
Bat emergence & autumn swarmingMostly ultrasonic: echolocation and feeding buzzes, social calls. Noctule social calls and some horseshoe calls are partly audible.
Late-summer bush-cricket & grasshopper chorusLoud sewing-machine buzz of great green bush-crickets from coastal scrub; ticking of dark bush-crickets; the electric drone of Roesel's in rough grassland.
Snettisham wader spectacularTens of thousands of knot flying in smoky clouds with a roaring wing-rush, then a low twittering murmur as they pack onto the roost banks.
Red deer rutStags roaring and groaning, antler clashes, hinds barking alarm, animals crashing through bracken and heather.
Autumn visible & nocturnal migrationThin 'tseep' of redwings passing overhead all night, then a stream of finch, pipit and lark flight calls at dawn.
Tawny owl territorial callingHoots and 'ke-wick' duets and disputes as young birds try to settle territories; sometimes three or four birds answering.
Fallow deer rutBucks' belching, rhythmic groans from rutting stands (true leks in some parks), antler clatter, does and fawns moving through leaf litter.
Pink-footed goose dawn flightsTens of thousands of geese lifting off the mudflats at first light in a wall of 'wink-wink' calls, wave after wave overhead.
Whooper swans & barnacle geeseBugling whoopers and yapping barnacle flocks like a huge crowd; the whole Svalbard barnacle population is on one estuary.
Grey seal puppingEerie wailing 'singing' of cows, bawling pups and bull snarls, with the surf.
Starling murmurationsThe whoosh of tens of thousands of wings turning together, then a huge chattering as they settle into the reeds or under a pier; the dawn explosion out of the roost is even louder.
Common cranes buglingTrumpeting bugles carrying over 2 km, unison calls from pairs, and the low rolling contact calls of a roosting group in the reeds.
Rook & jackdaw winter roostTens of thousands of corvids arriving in waves, calling in a rising roar, then a sudden collective drop into the wood.