COUNTRY MATTERS Step into a world of winter wonders

*** MOTHER NATURE Britain’s wildlife goes to sleep or flies away at this time of year, right? Twenty walks by Dominic Couzens prove otherwise

Don’t be influenced by cold snaps and warm interiors; February is a fantastic month for getting outdoors. The countryside might seem colourless and, at times, apparently lifeless, but that is an illusion. Some of the finest wildlife experiences of the whole year await those who choose to go outside.

Here we present 20 specially selected places that should guarantee a memorable day out at this time of the year. They encompass all the best things about winter: flocks of wild birds, early flowers, magnificent landscapes and muddy walks. They cover coast and hills, woods and urban areas. Most are free to visit, and all are within reasonable reach of a large town or city.

Of course, these places are just suggestions. The glory of the season isn’t confined to day trips. Outside everybody’s windows the birds are singing more and more, even on the chilliest dawn. The winter solstice has passed, so the days are getting longer, and nothing can stop this surge of natural music and the pioneering cheek of buds and catkins, daring the cold.

There is already far more to see than many people realise. The next month will see more garden bird visitors than at any other time of year; wetlands are replete with wildfowl; winter thrushes – redwings and fieldfares – are becoming more widespread and there are even some waxwings around – as neat and well-coiffed as if they had visited a Parisian beauty parlour.

Many mammals are active and some, such as squirrels, foxes, hares and wild boar, are either breeding or are about to. On mild nights bats or hedgehogs might take a night off from hibernation to feed, and sunny days will prompt the odd butterfly to take wing. Already a dozen or more moth species are flying, and their number increases weekly.

Even the supposedly sparse verges, pathways, woods and fields host an impressive number of blooms. All right, we might class many of them as weeds, such as daisy, yarrow, speedwell and dandelion. But look closely and there is colour at your feet – if not a riot, at least a polite disturbance. There are purple greater periwinkles, bright yellow winter aconites and lesser celandines, white and red deadnettles, red campions – all peeping, however modestly, into the frosty air. A Twitter feed devoted to plants in flower each week of the year is updated each Sunday evening: #Wildflowerhour.

Every such tweet has a message: The wildlife is out there, go find it.

CHANNEL ISLANDS LA ROCQUE HARBOUR, JERSEY

The island of Jersey almost doubles in size at low tide, such is the size and scale of its intertidal zone of pools, reefs and sand. The tidal range, at nearly 40ft, is the third largest in the world, so it’s a place for rock pooling on a grand scale; scientists have identified more than 400 species of animals and plants associated with the bays and shallow water. But here’s a left-field suggestion – explore the shores on a long winter night. Book with Jersey Walk Adventures and you’ll see something incredible and only recently discovered – bioluminescent worms! Jersey JE2 9FE. Limited parking. jerseywalkadventures.co.uk

SOUTH WEST HAM WALL, SOMERSET

The transformation of inky-black, scruffy garden birds with uncouth feeding habits into the choreographers of the twilight sky is what draws thousands of visitors to Ham Wall, and other starling roosts in the UK, every winter day. Catch this phenomenon while you still can, because soon the birds will be off back to their breeding sites on the Continent. Starling Central is here in the Somerset Levels, where upwards of half a million birds are present, but there’s much more to see – bitterns, great egrets and other waterbirds, plus, in the distance, Glastonbury Tor. RSPB Ham Wall, Meare, Ashcott, Glastonbury BA6 9SX. Car park open 5am-6.30pm every day. Pay and display, free to members of RSPB. pink at this time of the year. The main stars are not guaranteed, but seeing one while Blandford life happens around you is an extraordinary experience. Stour Meadows car park. Stour Park, Blandford St. Mary DT11 9PU. Free.

SOUTH EAST THORNEY ISLAND, WEST SUSSEX

The south coast has few lonely stretches, but Longmere Point, on the tip of Thorney Island, is one. During a winter gale, with the sea broiling and the shorebirds hunkering down into the estuarine channels, with the private military area behind you and three miles of muddy walking in either direction to the nearest coffee shop, the isolation can be spinetingling. In fact, you’ll be in the company of thousands of birds, such as brent geese, curlews and grey plovers, here to spend the winter feeding on the food-rich mudflats, and there’s even a colony of common seals. But people will be a rarity. Set off from Emsworth and follow the Sussex Border Path around island (buzz to get through military checkpoint). You can park at the north end of Thorney Road (PO10 8BL) at the marina, or at the end of Prinsted Lane (PO10 8HS).

NORTHWARD HILL, KENT

Northward Hill RSPB reserve is a mixture of ancien ancient woodland, scrub and grazing marsh. mars Although close to London, and within with sight of industrial plants, the heavie heaviest traffic around here is the dusk-time c comings and goings of the rooks that breed in the wood woods. Grey herons are also early nesters, and in a few weeks they will start building work. Sprin Spring here is noisy and liv lively. Northward No Hill, Cooling Road, Ro Rochester ME3 8DS. Car Ca park free for RSPB members. memb preserve 500 years old, still retains a sense of wildness, and on a misty cold winter’s day you can find solitude. Herds of red and fallow deer still graze on the acid grassland. Another reason to visit is to admire the clumps of mistletoe up in the old trees. Free car parks. TW11 0EQ. Open 9am-dusk.

EAST HOLKHAM, NORFOLK

Catch the evening just right here and you could experience a unique collaboration between flesh and blood and the light of the sky. Every dusk and dawn large flocks of pink-footed geese commute between North Norfolk’s estuaries, where they roost, and inland farmland, where they feed. When conditions are allow, it is possible to see skeins of geese against the pink sky, each writing its own aerial script, unique for the moment. The musical honks of the geese, their voices broken like adolescents, add to the drama. Large flocks also roost at nearby Wells and Snettisham. Holkham Beach car park, Lady Ann’s Drive, Holkham Hall, Wells-next-the-sea NR23 1RJ. Pay and display, 6am-6pm.

WELNEY, CAMBRIDGESHIRE

This trip celebrates the glory of deep winter – wild birds in freezing places making a stark, graceful spectacle. In the afternoon watch the daily ritual of wild swans being fed grain, enjoying the spectacle from the comfort of a heated hide. Aside from the resident mute swan, the whooper (many) and Bewick’s swans (few) come from Iceland and Russia respectively to winter on the low-lying Ouse Washes, and seeing them in a feeding melee and flying in is spellbinding. There are many species of ducks here, too, especially pochards, and there are also hares and barn owls in the area. Welney Wetland Centre, Hundred Foot Bank, Welney, Wisbech PE14 9TN Open 10am-5pm. Entrance fee applies for non-members of WWT.

HEARTWOOD FOREST, HERTFORDSHIRE

This new forest lies just outside St Albans. Originally a farm purchased by the Woodland Trust in 2008, Heartwood is a fledgling, planted with 600,000 saplings, a forest for the future. Adjacent to it, there is true ancient woodland (Pudler’s Wood), with some hornbeams thought to be 1,000 years old, alongside veteran oaks, limes and cherries. Old and new, it’s already a haven for wildlife, and on a still morning the bird chorus is considerable, with drumming woodpeckers and peeping nuthatches. Truly a place to lift the winter spirits. Sandridgebury Lane, Sandridge, St Albans AL4 3DQ. Follow brown sign from B651. Car park open 8am-5pm. Free.

MIDLANDS SHERWOOD FOREST, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

Ancient trees look their age in winter. Nothing conceals the wrinkles and imperfections on the old, bare limbs, and the cold winds make them creak and groan. Yet this also accentuates their character and individuality, and gives a woodland walk an element of mystique, or even a frisson of trepidation born of fairy tales. Sherwood has the highest concentration of veteran trees in Europe, many over 500 years old, mainly oaks (including the Major Oak.) You walk back in time; this area has been forested for more than 10,000 years. Sherwood Forest NNR, Edwinstowe, NG21 9RN. Pay and display car park.

ATTINGHAM PARK, SHROPSHIRE

One of the National Trust’s top 10 spots for snowdrops, Attingham Park is worth visiting for these alone. The allure of snowdrops, small, nodding and white, is perhaps how much they represent the early promise of better times ahead, and large numbers just magnify the cheerfulness. The flower-tips are fitted with a protective sheath that allows them to pierce the frosty ground, and their tissues contain antifreeze, so they are true winter plants. This parkland setting also has herds of fallow deer. Atcham, Shrewsbury SY4 4TP. Entrance fee for non-nt members.

STIPERSTONES, SHROPSHIRE

You need to be careful in winter, but the sheer thrill of being up here on this curious quartzite ridge will be just as heady as in summer. This is always a place to boost your imagination. The jagged rocks and shattered Ordovician crystals here witnessed the age of the dinosaurs, and on a winter’s day you can believe it. Open your eyes, too, to enjoy the less glamorous delights, such as the mosses and lichens – at their very best at this time of year. Knolls Car Park, SY5 0NL.

WALES KENFIG, GLAMORGAN

Take wind, sand and tides, mix together and you have a dune system, and this corner of wildness, between Port Talbot and Bridgend, has all three. It’s exhilarating to take a winter walk on the undulating dunes, where the wispy marram grass grows, and then on to the flat sands as far as Sker Point, where sanderlings, turnstones and oystercatchers congregate, and the gulls ride the winds out over the Bristol Channel. The surprise here is the fresh water; Kenfig Pool is a large dune-lake, or slack, with reed beds, ducks and even the occasional bittern. Ton Kenfig, Pyle, CF33 4PT. Free car park.

NORTH KIELDER, NORTHUMBERLAND

Neither the forest nor the reservoir is natural, but flooding the landscape with conifers and water has at least conferred a Scandinavia-inEngland feel to this part of the North. Half of England’s red squirrels are here, their fur glowing like a warming flame against the colourlessness of the landscape in winter. The forest holds their prime enemy, the goshawk (look out for them on sunny days), as well as crossbills and siskins. Bakethin Nature Reserve, Lakeside Way NE48 1HF. Welcome Point car park near Butteryhaugh Bridge.

SUNDERLAND POINT, OVERTON, LANCASHIRE

Starling roosts are mind-blowing, but assemblies of waders on British winter estuaries are every bit as spectacular. The birds are larger (curlews, for example), noisier (oystercatchers) and the starling-like aerobatics occur at high tide, not always in the evening. Morecambe Bay hosts 100,000 waders in winter. One of the best places to see large flocks is at Sunderland Point, south of Morecambe. A walk along the beach from Potts Corner beginning an hour before high tide should offer incredible views of the birds. Potts Corner car park (free in winter), end of Carr Lane, Middleton LA3 3LL (nearest postcode). Warning: this car park can be cut off by high spring tides.

MALHAM COVE, N YORKSHIRE

This natural amphitheatre arguably looks grander and more imposing in winter than in summer. The limestone cliff was once a huge waterfall draining glacial meltwater, in the days prior to the existence of Malham village and its tea shops. The mile-long walk from there, or the 400-step climb to the top of the cliff gives you a chance to hear the honk of ravens above, or even spot a peregrine falcon zipping past. On Malham Beck you might see a dipper, common in the Dales. It’s like one of those New Year’s Day swimmers, ripe with glee as it plunges into the freezing water. Malham, Skipton BD23 4DG. National Trust car park.

BEMPTON CLIFFS, E YORKSHIRE

Here’s what might seem a strange suggestion – try visiting a seabird colony in the middle of winter. You might expect the 400ft cliffs and chilly North Sea waters to be empty of their usual summer breeding residents, but you’d be wrong. Thousands of guillemots, those “flying penguins”, have already arrived, mainly still swimming offshore, and you’ll probably see fulmars – like gulls but with stiffly held wings – and the odd gannet, clean white with black wingtips. If nothing else, the light will play on the sea and the waves will crash satisfyingly far below. The clifftop walk, teetering close to the drop, is always exciting. Cliff Lane, Bempton, YO15 1JF. 9.30am4pm. Free car parking for RSPB members.

SCOTLAND CHANONRY POINT AND FORT GEORGE, NEAR INVERNESS

Chanonry Point and Fort George are the peninsular incisors that almost bite the Moray Firth into two. Whatever the time of year, Chanonry Point, on the north shore, is widely regarded as the best place in Britain to see bottlenose dolphins from land, especially at incoming tide. The Moray Firth has a resident population of 190 animals, plus common porpoises and seals, and recently a visiting orca appeared. Fort George, on the south bank, is great for exciting northern birds such as long-tailed ducks and divers. Chanonry Point, Ness Road, Fortrose IV10 8SE. Car park at lighthouse, free in winter.

THE HERMITAGE, DUNKELD, PERTHSHIRE

A curious mix of Victorian anomalies – the bridge, the cave and the bizarrely shaped Ossian’s Hall, a folly with a hall of mirrors built above the thundering falls. These are set within a forest of enormous trees, some of the Douglas firs being among the tallest in the UK, their roots rutting the path. Look out for a dipper on the river and perhaps a red squirrel in the tree branches – and a snowdrop display will soon be the icing on the cake. Old Military Road, Dunkeld PH8 0HX. Free entry. Pay and display car park.

NORTHERN IRELAND STRANGFORD LOUGH, CO DOWN

Britain’s biggest marine inlet, and a place of beauty, variety and a mild climate. On any winter’s day you should see grey and common seals (Cloghy Rocks), thousands of brent geese, and waders such as oystercatchers, knots and redshanks. It is rich for a spot of winter rockpooling (have a try by Kearney). From Newtownards A21 to Comber, then Killinchy and Killyleagh. Numerous stopping places by Lough shore.

The dipper is like a New Year’s Day swimmer, ripe with glee as it plunges into the freezing water