Hidden nature

Discover a world of hidden nature with the National Trust. Under stones, in rock pools, and hiding beneath tree bark there are hundreds of little creatures going about their day to day business.

And as night falls a whole new world comes to life. Moths, badgers and bats feast in the moonlight while we sleep soundly in our beds.

• Downloads
• Hidden Nature Uncovered
• Birdcams
• Beastcams
• Wildlife activity leaflets

© NTPL / Ian Shaw

• A massive 95 per cent of National Trust buildings (grand country houses, barns, cottages) have bats living in them.

To help you discover this land of hidden nature, the National Trust is holding special events at many of its properties. There are bat walks, bug safaris, badger watches and rock pool rambles. Visit our events page to find out more.

As well as joining one of our guided walks there are plenty of other places to see wildlife with the National Trust. Our traditional orchards, gardens, coastline and countryside are full of hidden nature – you just need to find it!

Downloads

You might like to try downloading some of our wildlife activity leaflets for tips on building bird feeders and butterfly snack bars!

For those of you who are interested in creatures of the night, we now have a new bat leaflet, which will help you to find and identify the winged-creatures.

• Download our bat leaflet (PDF / 163KB)
• Welsh language leaflet (PDF / 161KB)

Other worksheets available:

• Take note (PDF / 97KB)
• More than mud (PDF / 55KB)
• Best foot forward (PDF / 67KB)
• Hunting moths (PDF / 96KB)

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© NTPL / Paul Harris

• An oil beetle which was thought to be extinct in the UK since 1948 has been found on National Trust land in South Devon.

Hidden Nature Uncovered

Sometimes it’s not possible to see what is going on in the day to day lives of our wildlife. Birds spend most of their lives in the sky, bats roost in hard to reach places and badgers only ever come out at night. At lots of National Trust properties there are special cameras helping you catch a glimpse of our hidden nature.

• The National Trust looks after 59 important fossil sites, spanning 600 million years of history.

© NTPL / Ian Shaw

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Birdcams

• Watch our footage of arctic terns dive-bombing a warden!

These properties have wildlife cameras, that you can watch when you visit

Swallows come under the spotlight at Gibside near Gateshead and barn owls get the star treatment at Heigham Holmes on the Norfolk Broads. Other bird cameras can be found at Speke Hall in Liverpool, Fellfoot Park in Cumbria, Hughenden Manor in Buckinghamshire and Kingston Lacy in Dorset.

Beastcams

• Watch footage from the batcam at Dunster

These properties have wildlife cameras, that you can watch when you visit

At Dunster in Somerset and Arlington in Devon there are cameras trained on bat roosts. Badgers hit the screen at Kingston Lacy and Hughenden Manor. Even insects get a close up at Calke Abbey in Derbyshire, and you can watch the otters at Winchester City Mill.

More wildlife cameras can be found at Devils Punch Bowl Café and Witley in Surrey, and Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire.

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