Rare woodland animals and where to find them

From gently snoring hazel dormice to mystical nightjars, Britain’s woods are home to fascinating rare woodland animals – but spotting them is no mean feat.

To detect their presence, it’s important to understand their habitats and behaviours. Read on to discover our top spotting tips, when and where to find rare woodland species and how the Woodland Trust are helping them to survive. 

Top tips for spotting rare wildlife

• Scan the forest floor for clues, from nibbled hazelnuts to bright blue poos
• Keep very still and listen to the gentle soundscape of the woodland; you might make out distinctive squeaks, trills and yowls
• Be very patient – even the most avid wildlife watchers might never glimpse some of these animals, but it’s exciting just to know that they are nearby
• Research the animal to understand when and where you might see them
• Blend into your surroundings by wearing muted colours and avoiding strong scents.
• Be mindful that these species are extremely vulnerable. Keep your distance and don’t disturb them – after all, the woodland is their home.

Red squirrel

The russet fur, tufty ears and long, bushy tails of red squirrels were once a common sight in British woodlands. But these charismatic creatures have seen one of the most dramatic declines of all UK mammals, largely due to competition from grey squirrels, an invasive species introduced in the late 19th century.

Where to find red squirrels

Red squirrel strongholds are mainly found in Scotland; you might spot them in Plora Wood, Glen Finglas, Crinan Wood, Abriachan Wood, Balmacaan, and Glencharnoch Wood. In Cumbria, red squirrels have made their homes in Ridgewood, Arrowthwaite Wood, Shank Wood, and Spooner Vale.

A bold and exciting project is also underway at Snaizeholme in the Yorkshire Dales. The Woodland Trust is transforming this neglected landscape into a vibrant haven for wildlife, with plans to expand a red squirrel reserve at its heart. 

Preferred habitat: broadleaved woodland and conifer plantations.

How to spot red squirrels

These extremely agile climbers are tricky to spot as they spend much of their time in the tree canopy. The sound of rustling leaves and a distinctive ‘chuk chuk’ call may give away their whereabouts. Nestled high up in a tree, you might find a squirrel’s drey - a kind of nest made from twigs lined with moss, wool, feathers and leaves. Keep an eye out for pinecones that resemble chewed apple cores – a sure sign that squirrels have been scampering nearby.

Despite their name, red squirrels can range in colour. Some appear brown, greyish or nearly black, while other might be bleached blonde by the sun! You can tell it’s a red squirrel from the ear tufts, which grow bushier in winter.

When to find red squirrels

Though active year-round, red squirrels are busiest during spring and autumn. In the springtime, they feast on fresh new foliage and flowers, while the autumn months are an important time for hoarding food stores and fattening up for winter. If you are quiet, patient and lucky, you may glimpse a red squirrel in the early morning or late afternoon.

Pine marten

Though pine martens are the largest of Britain’s tree-dwelling mammals, you’d be exceptionally lucky to glimpse one in the wild – they are nocturnal, lightning fast and highly secretive. Around 6,500 years ago, these chestnut-brown mustelids were the second most common carnivore in the UK. Today they are critically endangered in England and Wales, but conservation efforts are paving the way for pine martens to make a comeback in our woodlands.

Where to find pine marten

An estimated 3,700 adult pine martens inhabit Scotland, mainly concentrated in the Scottish Highlands. Visit the Abriachan Wood, Gleann Shieldagg or Loch Arkaig, where these speedy mustelids scamper among the ancient Caledonian pine forest. Pine martens are also widespread across Northern Ireland – spot them in Faughan Valley Woodlands. 

Sadly, habitat loss and hunting in England and Wales have pushed pine martens to the brink of extinction. But our conservation work is creating a brighter future for these vulnerable mammals. Working with the Vincent Wildlife Trust, we translocated 51 pine martens from Scotland to Aberystwyth in Wales. The new arrivals have given birth to kits and are carving our new territories of their own – visit Cwm Mynach to see their new stomping ground.

Preferred habitat: native woodlands. These strong climbers shelter and raise their kits inside tree hollows, old squirrel’s dreys and bird’s nests.

How to spot pine marten

Look out for a lithe, long chestnut-brown body with a bushy tail and round ears. Each pine marten has a uniquely shaped creamy bib, meaning individuals can be identified by this pattern.

You might also spot for black, sweet-smelling scats, which are often tinged blue in summer when pine martens gorge on bilberries. In winter, you may spy five-toed tracks in fresh snow. During the summer mating season, listen out for their shrill yowls.

When to find pine marten

All year round. Thanks to their thick coat and furry feet, pine martens are well adapted to snowy conditions and don’t hibernate during winter. At night they forage and hunt on the forest floor, seeking out fruit, fungi, insects, small rodents and bird eggs. You may see a flash of fluffy tail or a retreating rump at dawn and dusk in the summer months, when they are most active.

Heath fritillary butterfly

Also known as the ‘Woodman’s Follower’, this dusky-hued butterfly favours sunny glades in newly coppiced woodland clearings. 

Where to find heath fritillary butterflies

This threatened species is restricted to just a few strongholds in the UK, including Exmoor National Park, the Tamar Valley and the Blean Woods of Kent.

The Woodland Trust’s restoration project at Victory Wood transformed barren land into a thriving haven for vulnerable wildlife. By reconnecting ancient woodland fragments, we set off a chain of events that allowed the heath fritillary to return.

Preferred habitat: heath fritillary butterflies congregate where their favourite food plants are abundant. Find them in open moorland, grassland, sheltered heathland valleys and woodland glades bursting with common cow-wheat and ribwort plantain.

How to spot heath fritillary butterflies

The colours and markings of the heath fritillary's delicate wings vary, but most sport an orange-brown chequered pattern. Find them fluttering and gliding close to the ground in coppiced woodland and heathlands.

When to find heath fritillary butterflies

Larvae overwinter inside dead, tightly rolled leaves and emerge in early spring. Adult butterflies are on the wing from May to July in Cornwall, and from June to August on Exmoor. On particularly hot years, second generations can be found from August to September in the southeast.

Nightjar

Swooping silently on warm summer evenings, this mysterious annual visitor has an eerie song and is steeped in folklore and myth. Its Latin name translates to ‘goatsucker’, as nightjars have been mistakenly believed to steal milk from goats in both Europe and Africa.

Where to find nightjar

Nightjars are mainly concentrated in southern England, including the New Forest, Dorset, Surrey and Suffolk. These enigmatic birds have also been spotted in parts of Wales, northern England and southwest Scotland.

Preferred habitat: in the UK, nightjars reside in heathland, moorland, recently felled conifer plantations and open woodland.

How to spot nightjar

The nightjar sports mottled grey-brown plumage that blends seamlessly into the bark of a tree. They are similar in shape to kestrels, with pointed wings and long tails, while their flat heads, huge black eyes and short yet wide bill give them an almost dragon-like appearance.

While your chances of spotting one are slim, you can listen out for the haunting, ghostly rise and fall of the male’s churring song. During the spring mating season, males show off with displays of frantic wing-clapping.

When to find nightjar

Each year, nightjars embark on an epic journey across thousands of miles from their wintering grounds in Africa, arriving in the UK between April and May. Most will have departed again by August. As crepuscular birds, they are most active in the low light of dusk and dawn, when they hawk for flies, moths and beetles.

Hazel dormouse

These sleeping beauties spend at least half the year in a deep slumber – they are even known for snoring! Hazel dormice have golden fur, a distinctive feathery tail and huge black eyes, ideal for hunting and foraging in the dark.

Where to find hazel dormice

Southern England and Wales, with smaller populations scattered across the Midlands and the Lake District. Watchful visitors might spot signs of hazel dormice in the ancient woodlands of Ashenbank Wood, Avon Valley Woods and Bovey Valley Woods. These tiny inhabitants have also made a fantastic comeback in the temperate rainforests of Fingle Woods in Devon, where the Woodland Trust thinned conifers and set up nest boxes. Careful monitoring shows hazel dormouse numbers have steadily grown here over the past decade.

Preferred habitat: hazel dormice prefer semi natural ancient woodland with mixed hazel coppice, thriving amongst the new growth of woody vegetation. While they are found mostly in native woodland, they can also live in farmland, scrubland, hedgerows and some conifer plantations.

How to spot hazel dormice

You’re unlikely to see these small, secretive creatures, but you can trace their movements on a nut hunt. Dormice love chomping through hazelnuts to get at the kernel inside. A close look at nibbled hazelnuts can tell you whether dormice are nearby- the nuts will have a smooth inner rim with tiny tooth marks at an angle to the hole on the nut surface.

When to find hazel dormice

During the harshest winter months, these minute mammals hibernate in cosy nests of leaves and grass, tucked away at the base of a tree or hedge. They are busiest from April to October, but spend the daytime – surprise, surprise – asleep, usually in a hollow tree branch, deserted bird’s nest or nest box. At night they scurry across the treetops in search of hazelnuts, berries and insects, rarely venturing down to the forest floor.

Blue ground beetle

An elusive and dazzling sight, blue ground beetles have a deep blue metallic sheen, a formidable jaw and intricate, sculptured wing-cases. These are the largest of more than 360 species of ground beetles in Britain, growing to over an inch in length.

Where to find blue ground beetles

Once thought to have become extinct in the UK, the blue ground beetle was rediscovered on Dartmoor in 1985. Since then, sparse populations have been found across Devon and Cornwall. You might come across one of these oval, brooch-like beetles at night in Bovey Valley Woods.

Preferred habitat: damp, deciduous woodlands of oak and beech, with a variety of mosses, ancient pasture and sparse ground vegetation.

How to spot blue ground beetles

You’ll only find blue ground beetles by night. Under cover of darkness, these fast-moving predators patrol the trees for tasty slugs – their favourite finds include the tree slug and ash-black slug. Spot them on south-facing stands of oak and beech on the slopes of river valleys.

When to find blue ground beetles

In the cold winter months, adults seek shelter under mossy dead bark and hibernate. They’ll awaken in early spring and begin the search for a suitable mate. Larvae develops through summer and new adults emerge in autumn.

Hawfinch

At a mighty 18cm tall, the hawfinch is the largest of the UK’s native finches. This striking bird boasts a particularly chunky bill, powerful enough to break open cherry stones! Unfortunately, with fewer than a thousand breeding pairs, this species has been red-listed in the UK since 2009.

Where to see hawfinch

In the UK, most hawfinches are found in southern England, in woodlands such as Heartwood Forest and Great Ridings Wood. There are also populations across Wales and in southern Scotland. You might spot one of these rare birds in the Forest of Dean, the New Forest or the Conwy Valley in Wales.

Preferred habitat: mature broadleaved woodland.

How to spot hawfinch

These flashy birds have an orange-brown head with a black mask and a humongous silvery beak. The wings of a hawfinch are blue-black and brown with a white bar.

Despite their gaudy colours, hawfinches are exceptionally hard to see as they spend much of their time hidden high in the woodland canopy. To make matters more difficult, their quiet, staccato call is easily missed amidst a chorus of birdsong, sounding rather like a robin’s ‘tick’.

When to see hawfinch

In mid-autumn, an influx of hawfinches arrive from northern Europe. Small flocks of these shy birds easier to spot in the colder months, as they stand out against the bare branches of their favourite trees, which include hornbeam and yew.

Dark crimson underwing moth

This rare beauty hides a flash of crimson beneath its camouflaged upper wings. Due to loss of habitat, it is one of the rarest moths in the UK.

Where to find dark crimson underwing moths

These incredibly rare moths once called Kent, Sussex and Wiltshire home, but now only breed in parts of the New Forest in Hampshire. In recent years, individuals have been spotted fluttering further afield, including sites in southern England and Wales.

Preferred habitat: this species relies on mature or ancient oaks in open woodland. Caterpillars munch oak buds, catkins and foliage, while adult moths feed on oak tree sap.

How to spot dark crimson underwing moths

Dark crimson underwings expertly camouflage against oak trees, making them tricky to spot. Their grey-brown upper wings resemble gnarled tree bark, while their dazzling crimson hindwings startle potential predators. Look out for a wingspan between 58-74mm, and a black W-shaped central band on the hindwings.

As mottled, grey-brown, lumpy caterpillars, they mimic the tones and textures of oak twigs they crawl on.

When to find dark crimson underwing moths

Spot them on the wing between August and September.