Endangered wildlife appeal
Woodland wildlife is fading before our eyes. Please support our appeal to save rare and threatened species.
Donate nowMammals
Trees and woods support a whole range of native mammals and some non-natives too, providing a stable habitat and food supplies.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Badger
Big families, big appetites and big personalities. Badgers are a wood's ruling clan, often occupying the same sett for generations and laying a network of well-trodden paths through the undergrowth. They’re playful, house proud and expert foragers.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Bank vole
Stout but speedy, the bank vole skitters around woodland and dense vegetation looking for blackberries, nuts and fungi. It uses its large ears to listen out for its many predators, such as the fox and kestrel.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Barbastelle bat
Distinctive, rare, elusive. The barbastelle bat lives in deciduous woodland and looks unlike any other bat. If you’re lucky, you might spot it hunting in wet woodland.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Beaver
Architects of the animal world, beavers are back in the UK’s rivers after centuries away. These dam-building rodents can transform their local environment by creating new wetland habitats.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Bechstein's bat
This elusive tree lover hunts, mates, and lives in woodland, relying on old trees for roosting sites. Loss of habitat means this once common species is now one of our rarer bats.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Brandt's bat
Small and shaggy, this pink-faced bat is often found in wet woodland. Keep your eyes peeled for them at dusk when they come out to hunt.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Brown long-eared bat
Known as the 'whispering' bat for its almost silent echolocation noises, this little bat's huge ears make it an expert woodland insect hunter.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Common pipistrelle bat
Flying mammals that live among us. Common pipistrelles spend the day sleeping in buildings, but rely on trees when they emerge at night.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Daubenton’s bat
A flying mammal with an aquatic edge. These bats are drawn to water, snatching insects from the surface of rivers and lakes.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Fallow deer
A social, elegant species with a signature speckled coat and mighty palmate antlers. Introduced to Britain by the Normans 1,000 years ago, fallow deer have lived in our woodland for centuries.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Field vole
Cute and in huge numbers, but rarely seen. The grass-tunnelling field vole is our most abundant mammal and represents a vital link in the food chain.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Fox
A born survivor with a bushy tail. Ever adaptable, the fox is equally at home in our woods or city streets. It sits top of the woodland food chain with a diet that takes in everything from birds and beetles to rabbits and rats.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Greater horseshoe bat
Rare and highly agile. Look out for the greater horseshoe bat along woodland edges at dawn and dusk. The longest-lived bat in the UK, it has become scarce due to a loss of insect prey and habitat.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Grey squirrel
Tree-climbing nut buriers. Scampering grey squirrels are a familiar sight, but sadly these American imports have had a disastrous impact on the native red squirrel.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Hazel dormouse
Sleepy, charming, undeniably cute. This minute mammal needs trees to survive and is seriously endangered.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Hedgehog
Sleepy, cute, truly iconic. These prickly critters rely on hedgerows and woodland edges for food and shelter.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Leisler's bat
Tree-dwellers with a lion-like appearance, these fast-flying bats are scarce throughout Britain but common in Ireland.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Lesser horseshoe bat
Plum-sized and pink-faced, the lesser horseshoe bat is one of the smallest bats in the UK. Look out for them at dusk in woodland, but not in winter when they hibernate underground in caves and tunnels.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Lynx
These solitary, stealthy hunters are currently extinct in the UK, but some advocates of rewilding would like to see them return.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Muntjac deer
Small and secretive. Muntjac are an attractive, but potentially damaging, addition to our woodlands, having been introduced in the 20th century.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Natterer’s bat
Foliage foragers and cave-dwelling contortionists, these ‘red-armed bats’ are expert hunters and can squeeze themselves into the tightest of spaces.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Noctule bat
Often seen flying high above the tree-tops, the noctule bat is the largest bat in the UK. This species relies on tree holes to roost in and is often confused for a swift when on the wing.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Otter
An elusive carnivore well-suited to land and water. With sweet-smelling spraint and a playful nature, otters are making a comeback. Find out what they eat, where they live and how to spot them.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Pine marten
Shy, curious and playful. The pine marten is a stealthy, acrobatic hunter that relies on the cover of woods and trees for its foraging missions. It’s critically endangered in England and Wales as much of its woodland habitat has been lost.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Red deer
The majestic monarch of the glen. Our largest land mammal, red deer, are the royalty of UK woodland.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Red squirrel
Bouncing bundles of bushy-tailed energy. The flash of a red squirrel leaping from branch to branch is an unforgettable, but increasingly rare sight in the UK’s woods. These charismatic creatures depend on woodland to survive.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Roe deer
Nimble and fleet of foot. The roe is our most widely distributed deer, found in woods across the country. Look out for its white rump flashing as it acrobatically bounds through the trees.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Scottish wildcat
Stealthy, rugged, not your average mog. The Scottish wildcat prowls select Scottish woods, spending its time hunting and protecting its territory. Known as the Highland tiger, this highly endangered species needs remote woodland to survive.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Serotine bat
One of the largest British bats, the serotine has a taste for beetles and other flying insects. Listen for the squeaking sound it makes just before emerging at dusk to hunt.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Sika deer
Not as grumpy as it looks, the sika deer’s furrowed brow sets it apart from other deer species. Introduced to the UK in 1860, it is rapidly increasing in numbers.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Soprano pipistrelle bat
The soprano pipistrelle bat is a widespread species that hunts close to water and can be found in woods and gardens.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Stoat
Fast and definitely furious. The stoat is not afraid to take on prey more than five times its size. Up trees or underground, there are few places this potent predator won’t go in search of its next meal.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Weasel
Relentless and always hungry. What they lack in size, weasels make up for in appetite, eating a third of their own body weight daily. From birds to bank voles, the small creatures of the forest floor must be ever wary of this energetic hunter.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Wild boar
Big, bulky and back. Wild boar have made a controversial return to the UK’s woods after centuries away.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Wood mouse
Despite being one of our most common woodland mammals, the small, sweet and secretive wood mouse is hard to spot. They feast on nuts, seeds and invertebrates and are an important food source for larger mammals and birds of prey.
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Trees woods and wildlife
Yellow-necked mouse
Agile, alert and rarely seen. The yellow-necked mouse is only found in the mature and ancient woodlands of southern Britain. Always on the lookout for predators, it can acrobatically leap to safety when threatened.
Keep exploring
Trees woods and wildlife
Birds
Find out more about our declining woodland bird populations, and how protecting woodland habitats is more important than ever.
Journal
Wood Wise – marvellous mammals
PDF (1.56 MB)
Trees woods and wildlife
Reptiles and amphibians
Explore more about these cold-blooded creatures that live along woodland edges, glades, ditches and ponds.