Wildlife in winter

You may think of winter as a time to stay indoors, but it can actually be a great time to go out and look for wildlife.

Here are some ideas for surveys to take part in, species to spot, and wildlife watching tips.

Discover what trees are growing in your local area

Trees are a familiar part of our surroundings and even towns and cities appear transformed when deciduous trees have shed their leaves. This also makes it easier to distinguish evergreens.

Find out what trees are growing in your garden and local neighbourhood with the help of our interactive tree identification key and tree factsheets. By adding your results to our urban tree survey you can help scientists gather useful information about the UK's tree population and how it is changing.

Urban tree survey

Search the shore for seaweeds

Beaches are havens for many types of wildlife, even in wild winter weather. If you need an excuse to go out for a bracing seaside walk, why not take part in our Big Seaweed Search?

Our easy-to-use guide will help you identify 12 types of UK seaweed and you can record your findings online to help scientists find out more about seaweed distribution nationwide.

Big Seaweed Search

Look out for lichens

Lichens are good indicators of air quality because some only grow in very clean air while others can live in quite polluted conditions.

By looking at tar spot fungus on sycamore leaves and lichens on trees you could help scientists learn about air quality all over the UK.

OPAL air survey

If the weather gets really cold, here are a couple of our top natural history videos from 2011 for you to watch at home.

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  Baryonyx - discovery of an unusual dinosaur

  The discovery of Baryonyx began a whole area of research on specialised fish-eating dinosaurs called spinosaurs. Watch the video to find out more about Baryonx and its significance.

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  World’s heaviest spider title challenged at Museum

  When the Hercules baboon spider took on the Goliath bird-eating spider for a heavy-weight title challenge, which emerged the champion?

Discover some of the winter wonders you could see on a woodland walk. 

Museum botanist Fred Rumsey guides you through some festive treats and treasures of British flora. But what made such a feast of the cherry stones?

Find out the identity of the mystery nibbler

We’d love to see your winter wildlife photographs and to hear about what’s been visiting your garden this year. 

And if you’d like help identifying any wildlife you’ve seen, ask the experts in our identification forums.

Share your wildlife photos and browse other people's

Tell us your tales of winter wildlife

Visit identification forums

The swallows have flown off to warmer climates but plenty of garden birds remain behind. And we welcome other winter visitors, such as waxwings (pictured). 

From getting started to learning bird songs, here are our top 10 tips for birdwatchers.

At this time of year, some British insects are no longer around, but you might spot some indoors sheltering from the cold.

Do you know the house spider, Tegenaria duellica, from the false widow spider, Steatoda nobilis? Upload your photos and find out the difference in the Bug forum.