Urban and suburban

You don't need to go far - just look out of the window... or when you're next out shopping or at the bus stop, take a minute to stand still and look skywards. Nature's all around you!

Urban parks and gardens are great for wildlife - they're our cities' 'green lungs'. Even cemeteries and churchyards, with their old trees and quiet corners, make great homes for wildlife.

There's something to see year-round, and it's literally up your street. Migrant birds can turn up anywhere, even in cities: those starlings on your bird feeder might have come from Russia, or the ducks on your local boating lake might be from Finland.

There's more to urban areas than grubby pigeons. All kinds of birds use our villages, towns and cities, from humble house sparrows to mighty peregrine falcons. To a peregrine, a city high-rise is just like a cliff; ideal for nesting on.

Take a stroll in your local park and you'll probably see woodpeckers, tits, finches and maybe a kestrel or sparrowhawk.

If there's a lake or river you're likely to see grey herons, coots and moorhens or, if you're lucky, the electric blue streak of a kingfisher.

Dig a pond in your garden, even in a town, and you'll attract dragonflies and frogs.

In spring, watch out for young foxes in your garden or the park. Butterflies turn up in gardens or on a window box and dragonflies zoom around, even away from water. 

Everyone's heard of urban foxes and hedgehogs, but what about water voles? They like slow-flowing water, even in grotty-looking city drainage channels if they can find somewhere safe to breed and feed. Listen out for a 'plop' as they dive into the water.

Over the past few years, otters have started popping up in city lakes and rivers - they're making a comeback now our water's cleaner.

Dig a pond in your garden, even in a town, and you'll attract dragonflies and frogs. It's like going on safari in your own backyard.

Loss of food

The number of the house sparrow, starling and song thrush has gone down by more than half over the last 25 years. While some of this is because of changes in farming practices, in the cities and towns scientists think a loss of insect food could also be to blame. This means we need to make sure our gardens are full of insects for these birds to eat. 

Unknown reasons

In 2007 the house sparrow, song thrush and starling were added as priority species to the UK Biodiversity Action Plan list. This means these once common birds are now species to worry about. Scientists are still finding out some of the reasons why this has happened. 

If you live in a town or a city urban wildlife is all around you, but you can also get up close and personal with urban nature at one of our reserves!

Our urban reserves provide the opportunity to escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and get close to nature. You might be surprised how much wildlife you can see in, or close to, some of our major towns and cities.

Top tips for a visit

These tips will help you to make the most of your visit:

• These reserves can be very popular – visit early in the day for the best chance of seeing more timid wildlife
• Bring the family - our urban reserves have something for everyone and are the perfect day out
• Some of the animals and birds at our urban reserves are used to people and can be very obliging 

• Bird guide: coot
• Bird guide: great spotted woodpecker
• Bird guide: grey heron
• Bird guide: house sparrow
• Bird guide: kestrel
• Bird guide: kingfisher
• Bird guide: moorhen
• Bird guide: peregrine
• Bird guide: song thrush
• Bird guide: sparrowhawk
• Bird guide: starling