大象传媒

If you go down to the woods for the day, you'll be in for big treat with wide range of nature watching activities.

To make the most of a day in the woods, be prepared for an early start and set your alarm to arrive in time for the dawn chorus at 5am.

Here are three great activities for woodland wildlife spotters:

* Deer stalking.
* Snake watching - Thetford Forest.
* Woodland birds.

Deer stalking

* Look out for deer tracks especially on damp, soft ground. Deer leave distinctive cloven hoofed prints.

* Deer are very shy so you need to get up early in the morning to catch them.

* These animals can see and hear as well as humans and their sense of smell is much better than ours.

* Deer can smell humans from a kilometre away so don't put on anything smelly such as perfume, deodorant or clothes smelling of fabric conditioner.

* Have any wind in your face and keep downwind of the deer.

* Deer are mostly nocturnal so another good time to look for them is at dusk.

Snake spotting

Thetford Forest in East Anglia is an excellent place to spot snakes, especially in open areas of the woods.

During spring Adders are still drowsy - their sight and hearing are limited but they can detect vibration.

If you want to see them walk carefully and gently, and you may find them basking in the sun.

They need the heat to raise the body temperature to a level at which they become active.

Also keep your eyes open for the tin panels in the forest and look for Adders underneath them.

The males are grey/silver in colour whilst the female is brown.

Their main distinctive feature is a zig-zag marking on their skin.

But be careful to replace the tin as you found it, and don't pick up them up because they are poisonous.

Rare woodland birds

To spot elusive woodland birds, keep scanning the trees and stay alert.

Don't disturb the birds or their nests.

Look for Goshawks as they go hunting - they'll eat a huge variety of birds from songbirds to owls. They'll even pick up the odd chicken from local farms.

The Nightjar is one of the hardest birds to spot - listen for its distinctive churring call.

You can tempt them by playing the sound of another bird which will cause the male birds to fly up and start their display flight which they perform every Spring to attract females.

Look for flashes of the male's white wing designed to attract females.

The Nightjar's ideal habitat is open heathland where they like to nest.

The bird has a whiskered mouth for catching insects in flight.

The best nights to try watching for Nightjars are warm and clear evenings from early May through to end of the summer.

Also look out for Crossbills, a stocky-looking woodland bird with a staccato call which frequents woodland areas.

The female is a distinctive yellow-green colour whilst the male is reddish and brown.

Photo credits

Thanks to Roger Woods and Thetford Forest.

Adder photo courtesy and copyright of Natural England and Peter Wakely.

back to top 聢