Where in the country is the best place to live if you are a wildlife entusiast?
I would guess that the lake district and some of the southern counties would be good choices, but if you had to pick one place, where would it be?
I think if one is a birding enthusiast, the Isles of Scilly are tops. As for mammals, or plants, others will have to chime in with their opinions.
Kingfisher
For me, it has to be Derbyshire. Florally, we are on a cross roads - southern plants at their most northerly, northern plants at their southern extremity, wetter plants to the west and drier plants to the east and even some true alpines. A mix of habitats - limestone, gritstone, dales and moorland with rivers, canals, woodlands, reservoirs, we've got it all, but besides this, we are central to the whole of the country, which allows us to travel to almost anywhere in the UK within a day and, of course, Bakewell Pudding!!
One of my favourite wildlife places is somerset. There are very few towns and it's so undisturbed. The countryside stretches for miles and of course you have longleat safari park 20 minutes away. You can't get more closer to wildlife than that!
Somerset also has the national trust house of Stourhead, which has some of the best gardens I have ever seen.
Derbyshire sounds like a great place from wild canon's description, I will have to put it on my long list of places to visit. I also enjoy Norfolk a lot. There is endless countryside and farmland, as well as the long coastline which has many undistrubed areas. There is also a colony of seals on the end of a spit just off the coast, I've temporarily forgotten which though.
I am not sure there is a best place to live as each area has it's own things to recommend it. Although I would like to live somewhere less built up.
I have been along the coast from North Devon to Kent & the Broads in Norfolk & have enjoyed whatever I have seen. The first time I saw a live heron was in Norfolk ,now we have them here & they are thriving. I like the Newforest & the Lake District for different things.
I once saw a deer in Thetford forest, Norfolk when we stopped on a comfort break for the dog & that was a thrill , now I have found that we have deer locally also & that they have been here for years.
I think it's the thrill of seeing something for the first time or been taken aback when you are surprised that counts & appreciating it of course.
If pressed by Richard I might have to say Devon or Cornwall.
The first time I saw a live heron was in Norfolk ,now we have them here & they are thriving...
I think it's the thrill of seeing something for the first time or been taken aback when you are surprised that counts & appreciating it of course.
The first time I returned to England after many years in the United States, I saw a heron at the Bridgewater canal, at Lymm, Cheshire. Much to my surprise, I also saw a drake Mandarin duck in the canal's waters!
What was odd, to me, was the lack of certain birds which I hoped to see on that visit. I never did see a goldfinch, although I think the time of year was the reason (late November, early December of 1992).
Kingfisher
I live in Glynneath, in South Wales. It's a very rural place with lakes, woodland and marshland close together. Herons, swans, ducks, raptors etc are all daily sights here, as are hedgehogs, foxes, badgers, rats, snakes and minibeasts.
As an amateur wildlife photographer, it's an ideal place to live! It's hard to catch a kite or buzzard with a low ISO camera like mine, but macro shots of insects here are amazing.
I think even if you live in a built-up area there are always a variety of species to study. Urban foxes, rats, mice, and even hedgehogs are common sights in the city, and the addition of some flower pots to your garden, or even just a window box outside your high rise flat can give you tremendous opportunities to see insects up close.
All you need is a good eye, a pair of binoculars and a bit of spare time and any area can yield fascinating discoveries :-)