Wildlife to see in the United Kingdom in April

7 spectacles at their peak in the United Kingdom in April, and 7 more still going on. Wild animals only: no zoos, no wildlife parks, no hunting. Open United Kingdom in April in the interactive calendar for listening times on the day you pick.

At their peak in April

• Bitterns boomingUnited Kingdom · Dawn chorus & song · peak 10 Mar–15 MayThe deep boom (fundamental around 150 Hz, carrying over 3 km), plus water rail squeals, reed and sedge warblers, and marsh harriers.
• Natterjack toad chorusUnited Kingdom · Amphibian chorus · peak 15 Apr–31 MayThe loudest amphibian in Britain — a rolling, ratcheting chorus audible up to 2 km away across dunes.
• Nightingales singingUnited Kingdom · Dawn chorus & song · peak 20 Apr–15 MayFull nocturnal nightingale song, often with several males counter-singing; tawny owls and the first dawn birds behind.
• Upland wader breeding songUnited Kingdom · Dawn chorus & song · peak 25 Apr–5 JunBubbling curlew song, snipe drumming (tail feathers), lapwing display flights, the mournful golden plover whistle, and greenshank 'tew-tew' over bog pools.
• Woodland dawn chorus peakUnited Kingdom · Dawn chorus & song · peak 25 Apr–15 MayFull layered chorus: robin, blackbird and song thrush first, then wren, warblers, chaffinch; in western oakwoods add wood warbler trills, redstart and pied flycatcher.
• Black grouse leksUnited Kingdom · Lek · peak 1 Apr–30 AprBubbling 'rookooing' from displaying males, hissing 'tchu-wee' sneezes and flutter jumps; curlew and snipe often in the same soundscape.
• Woodcock rodingUnited Kingdom · Dawn chorus & song · peak 10 Apr–31 MayCroaking 'grunt-grunt-tswick' of males flying circuits over the canopy, often with nightjar or tawny owl later.

Also going on in April

• Manx shearwaters returning at nightUnited Kingdom · Nocturnal · peak 15 May–15 JulHundreds of thousands of birds crashing in, with cackling, choking, hoarse calls from the air and burrows all around you.
• Seabird citiesUnited Kingdom · Seabird colony · peak 20 May–15 JulA wall of seabird calls: gannet grating, kittiwakes calling their name, guillemot growls, puffin burrow moans, sea and wind below.
• Common cranes buglingUnited Kingdom · Wintering waterfowl · peak 1 Dec–15 MarTrumpeting bugles carrying over 2 km, unison calls from pairs, and the low rolling contact calls of a roosting group in the reeds.
• Corncrakes callingUnited Kingdom · Nocturnal · peak 15 May–30 JunThe rasping 'crex-crex' from iris beds and meadows, with snipe, redshank and the sea behind.
• Tyne kittiwakes — the urban colonyUnited Kingdom · Seabird colony · peak 15 May–15 JulAbout 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.
• Bat emergence & autumn swarmingUnited Kingdom · Bats · peak 1 Jul–30 SepMostly ultrasonic: echolocation and feeding buzzes, social calls. Noctule social calls and some horseshoe calls are partly audible.
• Common frog & toad spawningUnited Kingdom · Amphibian chorus · peak 20 Feb–25 MarSoft purring of frog aggregations and the high 'quark' release calls of toads — best close-up or with a hydrophone.

More: United Kingdom all year · April along the whole flyway