Home Newsletter Locations Diary

 Indexes

Portal
Magazine4U

Article

Wildlife & Plants In the UK

April

April brings us sun and showers…

Wildlife

You are spoilt for choice for wildlife watching and photographing as everything starts to happen in April. Bird song fills the air across the country – from the dawn chorus to courtship and territorial displays. The redwings and fieldfares leave.

What to See Where to See and comment What it looks like
Swallows Start to arrive from their wintering grounds  
Nightingales Can be heard in woodland  
Warblers    
Puffins start to arrive back on our shores and islands to get their nesting grounds ready for this years new young.

At Troup Head Scotland you can see large numbers during their breeding season April-July each year.

Mallard Duck Mallard Ducklings will have hatched and can be seen following train style behind their mothers on ponds and lakes.  
Cuckoos Can be heard in the hedgerows when calling for their adoptive mother.

Capercaille Will be displaying and calling very early in the mornings to attract the female. Can be seen all year round in North East Scotland, although they are best in the Lekking Season which is April-May each year.
Great Crested Grebes Out on ponds and lakes the annual ballet between male and female will be on display.  
Butterflies Can be seen in gardens and meadows foraging for food on the nectar plants.

 

Picture is a Red Admiral

Bees Can be seen in gardens and meadows foraging for food on the nectar plants  
Tadpoles The frogspawn start to hatch into tadpoles, so ponds and rivers become festooned with large colonies of little black wrigglers.  
Sand Lizard The male will be turning bright green on the woodland floor as he gets involved in the mating game.  
Badgers Baby badgers born over the winter may start to appear above ground for the first time with mum and dad.
Osprey's Nesting from April to September. UK hotspot is the RSPB Loch Garten & Abernethy Forest, home of the Osprey Centre.  

Plantlife

Abundant new leaves start to appear on trees and shrubs whilst wild fruit trees fill with blossom.

What to See Where to See and comment What it looks like
Marsh marigold flower beside ponds and streams  
Primroses cluster on sunlit hedgerows  
Bluebells The UK has 70% of the worlds population of Bluebells and they carpet the woodland floors throughout the UK.

See our list of locations where you can photograph this abundant spring flower in the UK.

Cowslips feature in meadows and downland as well as being seen along our roadsides.

Orchids    
Turnip and Swede crops Late April look out for fields of yellow where they flowers have grown.  
Snakeshead Fritillaries Can be seen at North Meadow National Nature Reserve, Cricklade Wiltshire. A 108 acre hay meadow and at its peak in mid April one million blooms have been counted. It is water meadows between the Rivers Thames and Churn and can be seen from footpaths.

They can also be seen in the Meadows of Magdelene College, Oxford and in the village of Ducklington in Oxfordshire who hold an annual Fritillary Sunday Festival to raise money for charity.


Miles Underwood

Ash trees start to flower  
Yellow Gorse starts to bloom on heathlands  

See Also

For a more in depth look at Wildlife photography in April.

Other species can be found listed in the Wildlife Section or within the topic index under


By: Tracey Park Section: Diary Key:
Page Ref: wildlife_diary_04 Topic: Last Updated: 03/2011
.

This page:

Link directly to this page, with text or the button on right.

Text linking: Nature and Wildlife Calendar on Photographers Resource

Linking Instructions                            http://www.photographers-resource.co.uk/

Photographers Resource, all the information for the photographer