The BBC Springwatch phenomenon is due back to our screens on Monday 30 May. For three weeks, presenter team Kate Humble, Chris Packham and Martin Hughes-Games will be celebrating the best of the UK’s wildlife. With so much inspiration to enjoy our natural wonders, The Wildlife Trusts have some top tips for getting outdoors to enjoy the wildlife coming to a screen near you.
After three years at Pensthorpe nature reserve in Norfolk, Springwatch is moving its base. The new home is the remote, breathtakingly beautiful Ynys-hir nature reserve in west Wales.
For those inspired by the series, there are some spectacular Wildlife Trust reserves nearby to visit, including Cors Dyfi which is managed by Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust, and home to a pair of breeding ospreys: Nora and Monty. The pair produced the first osprey egg for the Dyfi since 1604 over this Easter weekend and their brood has since expanded to three!
Welsh wildlife expert Iolo Willams and the Springwatch Adventure Team will celebrate spring at what is, arguably, the finest of Welsh wildlife locations – Skomer Island.
Springwatch camera teams have been on the island from early April as the first puffins, razorbills and guillemots arrived back from their long winter at sea. They will also be on the lookout for the enigmatic, day-flying short-eared owl. Iolo and team will go under the waves to reveal rare sea fans, corals and inquisitive grey seals in Skomer’s underwater world, as well as the sand eels that feed and power much of the breeding action back on shore.
Skomer Island is managed by The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, and is open to visitors for day trips and overnight stays from April to October. More information on visiting Skomer is available at http://www.welshwildlife.org/skomerIntro_en.link.
For those who prefer a bit more solitude, this May witnessed the opening of Skomer’s sister island, Skokholm. Skokholm supports a stunning array of wildlife – alongside the puffins and auks is the third largest and most dense colony of Manx shearwaters in the world, representing 15 percent of the global population. It also holds one of the most accessible and southerly colonies of breeding storm petrels in the UK. These two bird species spend most of their lives at sea, only coming ashore to breed – at night. The only way, therefore, of seeing this spectacle is by staying on the island.
Day trips, three or four night, or full week stays are available, and details of how to book can be found at www.welshwildlife.org/skokholmIntro_en.link.
Springwatch 30 May – 16 June at 8pm, BBC TWO
