Photo by: Claire Hayhurst
With the arrival of summer comes a host of life, colour and activity. Nature offers forth baby birds, realms of flowers and the chance to spot young wild animals. When on holiday in the UK, summer is one of the very best times of the year to venture out into the countryside to see what you can spot.
We have selected some great imagery from talented photographers, submitted through our Summer Holiday Watch competition in partnership with the RSPB.
On your summer staycation, why not stay at one of our self-catering holiday cottages near a nature reserve and see if you can capture your own epic photographs? Alternatively, click on the button below to browse our full collection of summer cottages across the countryside and coast.
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Everybody loves the sunshine
As Roy Ayers once sang, Everybody Loves the Sunshine, and we think they do. As spring flowers fall away, the British countryside is given a new lease of life and colour as wildflowers like foxgloves, evening primrose, orchids, and red campion peep forth to display their majestic blooms.
The summer is also a fine time to see new birds as they fledge or to see some ever-handsome birds of prey high up in the vaults, wide wings tilting as they soar about on thermals. Keep a watchful eye out for bees; chances are you’ll hear their lazy drone first which belies all their hard work - they are far from idle as they go about gathering their pollen. Shy reptiles appear at the fringes too, adding a touch of the exotic to the fields and sand dunes of the British Isles.
As you can see, England, Scotland, and Wales are teeming with signs of nature each summer; some of the best places to see bees, mammals, birds, flowers, and insects every summer is at one of the many nature reserves and national parks that are scattered across the British Isles. Read our useful guide to making the most of the UK’s National Parks to discover some top spots for wildlife watching.
Photos by: TeeCeeAitch (top left), Sarah Bruton (top middle), Carterlove1112 (top right), and Laura Cunningham (bottom)
Summer birds in the UK
Many birds spend their summer in the UK after enjoying the winter months in their African feeding grounds. They come to cooler climes to breed and raise their fledglings. Head out to the countryside to see wheeling swifts, darting house martins, distinctive swallows, kingfishers and majestic birds of prey in their ministry. They complement the sedentary birds that remain in the British Isles all year round like blue tits, robins, sparrows, owls, swans, and ducks. Read our guide to the best RSPB places in the UK to enjoy birdwatching if you'd like to get a closer look.
Fun facts
- Some British swifts travel to West Africa in just five days – swift by name, swift by nature
- Check out the RPSB’s swift mapper app so you can register your sightings of this fantastic bird
Birds to look for in summer
Migratory: House martins, sand martins, swifts, swallows, warblers, flycatchers, wheatears, whinchats, hobbies, ospreys, Manx shearwaters, terns.
Garden birds: Blackbirds, blue tits, chaffinches, chiffchaffs, great tits, long-tailed tits, magpies, pigeons, robins, sparrows, wrens, wild ring-necked parakeets.
Photos by: Sue Lesley Hall (top left), Allan Fullarton (top right), and Brian Egles (bottom)
Wild mammals of summer in the UK
Lots of wild mammals in the UK give birth during the summer months, so it’s a good time to see baby animals out in the open. Often, they are still learning to stay hidden from danger, so it’s a great season to see young rabbits, hares, squirrels, and even rarer foxes, badgers, weasels, and stoats before they get wise to us.
At nightfall, you may be able to see bats during your early evening walks; they come out at sunset as they go about their business looking for bugs to eat. There are 18 species of bats in the UK, and the one that you will most likely encounter is the common pipistrelle. They are only tiny but they have huge appetites!
Another mammal to keep an eye out for if you are holidaying at the coast is the basking shark. Often spotted in the more temperate waters around Cornwall or the Scottish islands of Coll and Tiree, these giants are the world’s second-largest fish, and they can reach the same size as your average bus!
There are so many places in the UK to see wildlife in their own natural habitats each summer. If you're thinking of a staycation in Hampshire, why not take a look at our New Forest spotlight about all the wildlife that can be found within its borders? Also read our guide to British wildlife at the coast for more cool info and nature facts if you're dreaming of a break by the sea.
Fun facts
- A common pipistrelle bat weighs less than a 10p coin
- A basking shark swallows thousands of tonnes of water per hour and uses massive bristles to filter the food out of the water
Photos by: Sharon Witham (top left), Carly Harper (top right), and Brian MacIver (bottom)
Reptiles of British summer in the UK
Look out for adders and small reptiles on hot days. The UK isn’t really associated with snakes and lizards - countries like Australia and India, and the African continent spring to mind more easily. However, even though snakes and reptiles aren’t overly common in the UK, there is still a notable sample of cold-blooded wild creatures about if you know where to look!
The sand lizard can be found on heathland as there is soft soil to lay eggs and a multitude of spiders and insects to dine on. A great place to spot them is RSPB Arne Nature Reserve, near Wareham in Dorset.
There are three species of snake in the UK: the grass snake, the smooth snake, and the adder. None of these creatures are dangerous to humans, although a nasty bite to a dog or cat could prove fatal for them. Adders love wild sand dunes like Braunton Burrows and Croyde in Devon but most of the UK’s snakes are most commonly found in woodlands and on heathlands. Most snakes go into hibernation in October and ‘come up for air again’ in April.
Fun facts
- Adders have an average lifespan of 15 years, while a grass snake can live up to 25 years
- Grass snakes can lay up to 40 eggs at once
Photos by: Rich Ashbury (top) and Thorsten Sporlein (bottom)
Bees, butterflies and other insects in summer
Summer is the season of the bumble bee! The British bee population is in decline because of pesticide use and a radical reduction in its natural habitat. Bees thrive on certain flowers from which they get pollen, so consider planting bee-friendly flowers in your garden, this way, if everybody helped we’d definitely see more and more bees on our holidays. Check out the RPSB’s bee identifier chart that contains illustrations of 40 of the UK’s most common species.
Butterflies adore warm weather, and you can find them basking on chalk grasslands and anywhere that you may find carpets of wildflowers. They especially love flowers like hairy violet, birds foot trefoil, cowslip, sheep’s sorrel and creeping cinquefoil. You can spot up to 60 different species in the UK, 22 of which are fairly common, spanning the full spectrum of colours. If you love to see butterflies in the summer, think about what type of flowers you grow in your garden, putting nectar-producing plants in a sheltered yet sunny spot.
Take a look at the RSPB’s guide to butterflies so you can get to know all about the flotillas of winged creatures that visit your garden and can be found on your summer holiday. Being summertime, the meadows are teeming with chirping insects; there are throngs of them everywhere you go, looking for food, gathering nest materials and hatching eggs.
Become an expert at macro photography when you zoom in and capture the colourful abdomens and mandibles of the summer’s British insects. Keep ‘em peeled for wasps, ants, beetles, spiders, woodlice and more. If you are mad on creepy crawlies, visit some stately homes and gardens; you are nearly always bound to find a bug hotel in the corner of a walled garden.
Fun facts
- Butterflies have four life cycles: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly
- The trap-jaw ant holds the record for possessing the fastest movement in the animal kingdom - its jaw can lock onto its prey at 140mph
Photos by: Kazzy Minton (top left and middle), Karen Tranmer (top right), and Miss Shelly (bottom)
Summer flowers in the UK
A big reason why we all love the summer so much is the vibrant colours of the flowers, be they wild or cultivated. From rambling roses to evening primroses, every colour you can name is represented in nature from the tip of John o’Groats to the toe of Land’s End.
Rare beauties like orchids can be found at the beginning of summer, often seen in sand dunes or chalk grasslands - they are certainly lesser-spotted and easily missed. Purple flowers are omnipresent, seen in heather and foxgloves by the drove, and as you enjoy summer walks along country lanes you will see amassed red campion which is actually pink.
The deep yellows of honeysuckle, yellow rattle and tansy are on show too. Other lovely species you are bound to encounter include devil’s-bit scabious, oxeye daisy, cross-leaved heath, cow parsley, bee orchids, thrift, grass of Parnassus, and common knapweed. Deep in the woods, you will see ferns abound in the understorey making the habitat even cooler and shadier.
Everywhere is full of life and beauty each summer. Visit a flower farm for some of the best photo opportunities around, so you can see regimented fields of colour that stretch for miles. Read our guide to the best places to photograph flower fields in the UK to find out more.
Fun facts
- Stop to smell honeysuckle in the hedgerows, which grow red berries each August that birds love
- Bee orchids evolved to trick solitary bees into pollinating them
Photos by: Well Hello Sally (top left and middle), Rebecca Keeble (top right), and Sabrina F (bottom)
Take a summer break
Why not treat yourself to a summer break at one of our self-catering holiday cottages? Our summer properties can be found throughout the British Isles, along the coast and all across the countryside. You’ll find the perfect accommodation for your summer nature holiday in our collection. Visit our range of summer holiday homes in the UK by clicking the button below.
Browse our cottages for summer