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Wildlife & Plants In the UK

April

April brings us sun and showers…

Wildlife

You are spoilt for choice for wildlife watching and photographing as everything starts to happen in April. Bird song fills the air across the country – from the dawn chorus to courtship and territorial displays. The redwings and fieldfares leave.

What to See	Where to See and comment	What it looks like
Swallows	Start to arrive from their wintering grounds
Nightingales	Can be heard in woodland
Warblers
Puffins	start to arrive back on our shores and islands to get their nesting grounds ready for this years new young. At Troup Head Scotland you can see large numbers during their breeding season April-July each year.
Mallard Duck	Mallard Ducklings will have hatched and can be seen following train style behind their mothers on ponds and lakes.
Cuckoos	Can be heard in the hedgerows when calling for their adoptive mother.
Capercaille	Will be displaying and calling very early in the mornings to attract the female. Can be seen all year round in North East Scotland, although they are best in the Lekking Season which is April-May each year.
Great Crested Grebes	Out on ponds and lakes the annual ballet between male and female will be on display.
Butterflies	Can be seen in gardens and meadows foraging for food on the nectar plants.   Picture is a Red Admiral
Bees	Can be seen in gardens and meadows foraging for food on the nectar plants
Tadpoles	The frogspawn start to hatch into tadpoles, so ponds and rivers become festooned with large colonies of little black wrigglers.
Sand Lizard	The male will be turning bright green on the woodland floor as he gets involved in the mating game.
Badgers	Baby badgers born over the winter may start to appear above ground for the first time with mum and dad.
Osprey's	Nesting from April to September. UK hotspot is the RSPB Loch Garten & Abernethy Forest, home of the Osprey Centre.

Plantlife

Abundant new leaves start to appear on trees and shrubs whilst wild fruit trees fill with blossom.

What to See	Where to See and comment	What it looks like
Marsh marigold	flower beside ponds and streams
Primroses	cluster on sunlit hedgerows
Bluebells	The UK has 70% of the worlds population of Bluebells and they carpet the woodland floors throughout the UK. See our list of locations where you can photograph this abundant spring flower in the UK.
Cowslips	feature in meadows and downland as well as being seen along our roadsides.
Orchids
Turnip and Swede crops	Late April look out for fields of yellow where they flowers have grown.
Snakeshead Fritillaries	Can be seen at North Meadow National Nature Reserve, Cricklade Wiltshire. A 108 acre hay meadow and at its peak in mid April one million blooms have been counted. It is water meadows between the Rivers Thames and Churn and can be seen from footpaths. They can also be seen in the Meadows of Magdelene College, Oxford and in the village of Ducklington in Oxfordshire who hold an annual Fritillary Sunday Festival to raise money for charity.	Miles Underwood
Ash trees	start to flower
Yellow Gorse	starts to bloom on heathlands

See Also

For a more in depth look at Wildlife photography in April.

Other species can be found listed in the Wildlife Section or within the topic index under

• Wildlife and Animals

• Nature, Flora and Countryside

• Wildlife & Nature within the reference section