Towns and cities are full of nature. This spotter guide will help you identify and discover some of the plants and wildlife in your street, garden or local park.
Nature is a great adapter and as towns and cities have grown, lots of animals, birds and plants have become part of urban life. Others have always thrived in busy, built-up areas.
With more and more of us living in towns and cities, green spaces are even more important for urban nature and people’s wellbeing. We are working to help preserve, improve and create more areas for urban nature through projects like Nature Towns and Cities and Castlefield Viaduct.
This guide will help you find out more about some of the nature we already share our towns and cities with, how they’ve adapted to living alongside us and how we can continue to support the nature around us.
Foxes are one of the most well-known adapters to urban life. While foxes living in rural areas eat around 95% meat, in cities and suburbs they're more omnivores. They scavenge on our waste food and help keep rodent populations under control by hunting rats and mice. Urban foxes keep well hidden during the day but you might smell their musky territory marks. They're more adventurous at night when you can spot one strolling down a street or hear their calls on autumn evenings.
Grey squirrels are a common sight in local parks. They were introduced to the UK from North America in the 19th century and adapted so quickly that they pushed out the native red squirrel population in most areas. Grey squirrels have double-jointed ankles, meaning their feet can face both forwards and backwards – which is useful for climbing trees.
Hedgehogs are probably one of our most beloved animals. To give them a helping hand, leave piles of leaves and branches for them to use as prime hibernation spots. If you're building a bonfire be sure to check for tucked away hedgehogs before you burn it. They may be using it for shelter. Hedgehog highways between gardens are also important. To create one, make or leave small gaps at the bottom of fences, this can help them get around their territory safely.
Some coastal towns and cities support colonies of seals. They can be seen swimming in Belfast Harbour and Middlesborough's River Tees. You might spot them resting on local beaches or see their heads bobbing in the water as they look for food. If you do see them, keep your distance and dogs on a lead, especially if they have pups with them.
Otters are very shy – but you might spot them swimming down rivers in places like Leeds and Winchester. They were an even rarer sight in the 1970s when their populations had severely declined. However, they've made a comeback over the last couple of decades thanks to improved water quality, especially in more urban areas. Look for their tracks in the mud or signs of their nests, called holts, in riverbanks.
Kingfishers have been spotted mainly in rural areas for generations, however, they're making the move into cities and towns. They've been making their homes in places like London and Manchester, taking advantage of fish populations that are starting to thrive in cleaned up lakes, canals and rivers. Even in urban environments, where the birds appear to have become more used to humans, spotting them can be difficult. Watch out for a flash of bright blue and orange sitting on low branches, diving into the water or darting across the banks.
Ring-necked parakeets are the UK's only naturalised parrot, thriving since the 1990s. They've become a common sight in London's parks and have spread to other parts on the country including Manchester and Glasgow. They can muscle-out native garden birds from feeders so try a mix of protected and unprotected feeders. Save the higher-value fat and seeds for the harder-to-access feeding stations that only smaller species can use.
There are at least five species of gulls you're likely to see in the UK, mainly in coastal towns and cities. Herring gulls have pale grey plumage and you can also spot the world's largest gull, the great black-backed gull. Kittiwakes are smaller with black tips to their wings. They spend most of their time out at sea but if you live in or visit the north east, you can spot a colony on the River Tyne. Climate change and overfishing has caused a decline in sandeels, which kittiwakes and other sea birds feed on. This has been helped by a successful campaign to end industrial sandeel fishing.
Swifts, swallows and house martins are spring and summer visitors from Africa. They arrive around March and April each year with some birds starting their migration in the previous September. You can tell which is which from their tails. Swifts are darker all over with stubby tails, house martins have white bellies with short tails and swallows have long tails. Swift and house martin populations are declining. One way to help is putting up swift boxes in autumn where they can nest in the spring and return year after year.
Cities around the country are now home to peregrine falcons. The world's fastest bird, they can reach speeds of 198mph (320kmph) when they're hunting. They've adapted well to urban life, making their nests and raising chicks high up on tall buildings. Some places have nest webcams so you can follow the chicks growing up high above the city skylines. One of their food sources are feral pigeons which they target and dive on, sometimes in mid-air.
There's been an 80% decline of butterflies in the UK since the 1970s, but more urban green spaces can help them recover. Top butterfly friendly plants include native flowering species such as field scabious and black knapweed. British butterflies are well adapted to these plants, plus they make colourful additions to wilder areas of gardens and parks.
Like butterflies, both bees and wasps are important pollinators. They spread pollen as they feed on nectar. Wasps also feed on other insects such as spiders, aphids and woodlice, keeping their populations in check. Whether it's a patch in your garden, a roadside verge or a churchyard, leaving an area with long grass and wild flowers can provide pollinators with shelter and a variety of plants to feed from.
Spiders are an important part of the natural world both inside and outside of our homes. They're natural pest controllers that prey on flies, mosquitoes, beetles and aphids which can spread diseases to plants. Spiders are also food for small animals and birds. They're an important indicator of an ecosystem's health because of their role as both predator and prey.
While buddleia is a garden plant, it is able to grow almost anywhere. You might spot them on rough ground, along train tracks or even in the walls of abandoned buildings. The plant's seeds are winged so when the wind catches them they are distributed all over towns and cities. While buddleia is counted as an invasive species, their purple flowers attract butterflies, moths and other pollinators making it an important source for food and sustaining urban insect life.
Blossom is a sign that spring has arrived and cherry trees are one of the most common blossoming trees found in towns and cities. Whether they've been planted in local parks, on streets, in gardens or self-seeded somewhere, their short-lived pink and white flowers are a spectacular sight. Every spring in Japan, the festival of Hanami celebrates the blossoms. This idea of noticing and enjoying the flowers has spread to other places too, including the National Trust's own celebration between March and May.
Horse chestnuts can be spotted lining streets, or creating avenues of trees in parks. They're easily spotted by their five to seven-fingered leaves and autumn 'fruit' better known as conkers. Despite being a common sight to most of us, horse chestnut trees aren't native to Britain. They're originally from the Balkan Peninsula and were introduced to the UK from Turkey in the 16th century. Their leaves feed horse chestnut leaf-miner moth caterpillars which are a favourite food for blue tits.
Native to the South West and Wales, you might spot the bright yellow Welsh poppy in gardens and growing on rough ground. They're a great example of native plants which boost biodiversity in gardens and parks. Even small areas of wild flowers and plants provide a variety of nectar for bees and other pollinators to feed on. In turn, they support other plants and create food for birds and animals in the food chain.
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