Walking in a winter wonderland 

If you’re looking for inspiration for exploring wintertime wildlife – read on. 

Don’t forget weather can be changeable, and it can get muddy underfoot. So please follow the countryside code, check the weather forecast before you set off, and make sure you’re dressed appropriately 

Ramscombe Great Wood, Quantock Hills 

Forestry England’s 600-hectare Great Wood provides a network of bridleways and forest roads that you can explore on foot, by bike or on horse. These can be accessed via several car parks. There is also a family picnic area with picnic tables and wheelchair access. These walking with wheels routes provide options for disabled ramblers.  

At Great Wood you can see magnificent conifers like Sitka spruce and towering Douglas firs, as well as ancient oak woodlands. Look out for red and roe Deer flitting through the trees, and for buzzards and ravens flying overhead.  

RSPB Ham Wall and Shapwick Heath Nature Reserves

RSPB Ham Wall and Shapwick Heath Nature Reserves are wonderful places to go for winter bird watching. Here you can also enjoy superb views across the landscape and sublime wintery skies. Together with the Westhay Moor, Catcott, Huntspill and Bridgwater Bay Nature Reserves they form part of the Somerset Wetlands Super National Nature Reserve (SNNR). 

In winter, the reserves attract waterfowl like teal, wigeon, pintail, gadwall. Shovelers. snipe, lapwings and golden plovers also spend the winter in this area. 

The reserves are renowned for their spectacular winter starling murmurations, with one of the UK's largest starling roosts from November to March. Hundreds of thousands of starlings perform aerial displays at dawn and dusk. To avoid crowds, visit on weekdays or early mornings.  

Bridgwater Bay Nature Reserve and Steart Marshes 

Bridgwater Bay Nature Reserve is one of the UK’s largest intertidal mudflats. It forms the coastal edge of the Somerset Levels and includes the largest area of salt marsh in Somerset. The Steart Marshes (part of the Bridgewater Bay Nature Reserve) are internationally recognised for their importance for wintering wildlife and migratory birds.  

Here you can see overwintering ducks and waders like wigeons, gadwalls, pintails, lapwings, dunlins, golden plovers, and avocets, along with peregrine falcons, hen and marsh harriers, merlins and short-eared owls. 

There are several easy flat walks around Steart Marshes varying in length. These are on paved paths and include routes with disabled access. 

Otterhead Lakes, Blackdown Hills 

In winter, teal and wigeon can be seen at Otterhead Lakes, along with the mallards, coots, moorhens, mute swans and little grebes that are present year-round. Dippers can be seen bobbing up and down on the rocks near the cascade. Keep an eye out for kingfishers, with their vibrant blue and orange plumage, as they fly fast and low across the water. 

In recent years beavers have made their home in this nature reserve. While you’re unlikely to spot them here, especially at this time of year, do look out for the dams they’ve made and for evidence of them gnawing on branches. 

The Otterhead nature trail will help you explore. 

Snowdrop Valley, Exmoor 

While Snowdrops aren’t native to the UK, they are a delight to see in the winter.  

Snowdrop Valley is a privately owned remote valley in a hidden part of Exmoor close to Wheddon Cross. In this picturesque valley you can see the stunning display of snowdrops that carpets the woodland floor and take a stroll alongside the stream that meanders its way through the valley.  

Snowdrop Valley is open for a few weeks from late January and there are various walking routes for visitors. Maps of the walks and refreshments are available from the parking kiosk. 

On your doorstep 

There are plenty of local parks throughout Somerset where you can experience wildlife this winter, so you don’t necessarily need to venture too far from home. Parks close to towns include, Chard Reservoir Nature Reserve, Vivary Park in Taunton, and Yeovil Country Park. 

If you have a garden, putting out a bird feeder is a fantastic way to experience wildlife in the wintertime while also giving birds a helping hand during the winter months when food can be scarce. 

Wintertime wildlife 

If you’re out and about in Somerset this winter here are some suggestions for what to look out for.  

In the late summer, when other plants start to die off, the ivy begins to flower, providing food for butterflies, bees, wasps and flies. Ivy attracts bumble bees, honeybees and solitary bees including a UK ‘new bee’, the ivy mining bee. Ivy also offers refuge for birds and small mammals, giving shelter from the harsh weather, and the berries are an important winter food source for birds when insects are scarce.  

The spikey evergreen foliage of the Holly provides dense cover where birds, bees, caterpillars, and small mammals can nest and shelter, and the leaf-litter below provides a place where animals, such as hedgehogs, can hibernate. Holly berries are a vital source of food for small mammals such as wood mice and dormice, and birds including blackbirds, fieldfares and mistle thrushes. Holly flowers which appear from early spring provide nectar and pollen for bees and other pollinators. The caterpillars of the holly blue butterfly and a variety of moths feed on the leaves. 

In wintertime, clumps of evergreen mistletoe can be seen up in the branches of trees. In the UK, mistletoe typically grows on cultivated apple trees, but can also be found on hawthorn, poplar and lime. It is a 'hemiparasitic' plant meaning that it takes some of its nutrients from its host, but in turn it is an important source of food for other wildlife. While most birds prefer bright coloured berries, some do like to feast on the mistletoe’s plump white berries, like the aptly named mistle thrush, and winter visitors like redwings and field fares. They eat the flesh of the berries but leave the sticky seeds attached to the branch, helping new plants to take root. There are also several species of insect that are specialist mistletoe feeders, including the rare mistletoe marble moth. 

Birds in the wintertime 

Winter is a fantastic time to appreciate some of Somerset’s birdlife, with a whole host of interesting seasonal visitors. And with less foliage on the trees, birds are easier to spot! 

Redwings and fieldfares, two birds of the thrush family, are common winter visitors to Somerset and are often seen together. Look out for small flocks feeding and travelling across open fields and along hedgerows, feeding on berries such as hawthorn, holly and rowan. They can also be seen in orchards and in parks, feeding on berries, invertebrates and sometimes wind-fallen apples. 

While robins are with us year-round, we often associate them with a winter scene. They puff up their feathers to keep warm making them look larger and fluffier at this time of year. Winter is a difficult time for robins and, in their bid to survive the harsh weather and to track down sources of food, they venture ever closer to our homes. If you're digging the garden they’ll often be watching, waiting for you to unearth a tasty worm or beetle. 

Starlings are resident in the UK throughout the year and can often be seen in gardens and parks, but from November to February their numbers increase significantly as more migrate here from Scandinavia. Starlings gather in large (sometime enormous) flocks called murmurations, creating mesmerising shapes in the sky that morph as the birds swoop and dive. By flying together like this, starlings confuse potential predators, making it harder for them to pick off individual birds. 

Signs of spring 

If you’re one of those people who finds winter tough to get through, seeking out of the signs of springtime could be just the tonic. 

One early sign of spring is the appearance of the primrose flower and in milder years they can appear as early as December. Primroses can be found in woodlands, hedgerows, parks and gardens. The caterpillar of the rare Duke of Burgundy butterfly feeds on their flowers. 

Lesser celandine, a spring flower resembling a buttercup, carpets woodland floors from January to May. It is a vital source of nectar for early insects. It was once believed that this plant could be used to predict the weather, as its glossy yellow petals close when it rains. 

Despite its association with winter, the appearance of snowdrops is one of the first signs that the season is coming to an end. The snowdrop’s unmistakable white petals, light up the woodland floor.  

We hope you have enjoyed this little delve into Somerset’s winter wildlife and that it has encouraged you to head out and explore. 

Somerset Council (in collaboration with Somerset Local Nature Partnership) is currently working on a Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) for Somerset.  

We have some spectacular habitats and wildlife in Somerset, but our natural environment also faces urgent and significant challenges. The Somerset Local Nature Recovery Strategy will provide a framework for targeted, co-ordinated and collaborative action for nature. 

Work on the Somerset LNRS has been progressing well. We’re aiming to open the draft strategy for public consultation in March, with a view to publishing the final strategy in May 2025.