Items16The creator’s order
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Common pipistrelleThe bat you are most likely to meet, and the best reason to buy a bat detector. Common pipistrelles weigh about 5 grams, roughly a 20p coin, and usually leave their roosts around 20 minutes after sunset to hunt along hedgerows, woodland edges, farmland and suburban yards. Watch a streetlight or the…0 - 2
Daubenton's batHead for still water. Daubenton's bats hunt over lakes, canals and slow rivers, flying steadily within a few centimeters of the surface like a tiny hovercraft, and they have even been seen taking prey straight off the water.
Find a bridge or bank with a clear view of calm water after dark and…0 - 3
Common noctuleLook up while the sky is still bright. The noctule is one of Britain's largest bats, with a wingspan of up to 40 cm, and it hunts in the open, often well above the treetops, flying high and fast with steep dives after insects. It forages mainly at dusk, so it is the bat to watch for over meadows,…0 - 4
European hedgehogThe easiest night animal in Britain to bring to your own doorstep. Hedgehogs come out after dark to hoover up beetles, worms and other invertebrates, and they travel around a mile a night through parks and yards in search of food and a mate.
Listen before you look: a hedgehog shuffling through dry…0 - 5
European badgerBadger watching is a lesson in patience that pays off on a long summer evening. Badgers live in family groups in underground setts, and a sett in use is usually neat, with clean doorways.
Be in position at least an hour before dusk, downwind so the breeze carries your scent away from the holes, in…0 - 6
Red foxThe night animal most people already share a street with. Red foxes come out mostly after dark, in towns as well as the countryside, and urban foxes eat almost anything, from scavenged scraps to birds, small mammals, earthworms and insects.
Summer evenings belong to the cubs. On spring and summer…0 - 7
Lampyris noctilucaFew sights on a British summer night match a glow-worm's cold green light in the grass. Only the wingless adult females glow, to attract the flying males, and they shine as soon as it gets properly dark from late May to early September, with a peak in mid-July.
Look on open grassland and hedge…0 - 8
European nightjarThe defining sound of a heath at dusk. The male nightjar's song is a long, mechanical churr that rises and falls, often punctuated by a sharp clap of the wings. Nightjars are among the last migrants to arrive, in late April and May, breed on heathlands, moorlands, woodland clearings and recently…0 - 9
Tawny owlBegging owlets in late spring and early summer
The hooting pair gets the fame, but the summer sound is the young. Tawny owl chicks leave the nest at around five weeks old, and as they fledge their begging calls to the parents become a familiar woodland sound at dusk, one that confirms a pair has…0 - 10
Western barn owlA pale shape drifting low over rough grass as the light goes is the classic barn owl sighting. Look over farmland and grassy field margins, especially at dawn and dusk, and scan fence posts, where they often perch.
Bring your ears too. A barn owl screeches and hisses rather than hoots, and in…0
