Winter wildlife

Short-eared owl sat on a post in the snow

Short-eared owl. Photo, Danny Green/2020VISION

Wild Winter

Winter Wildlife

In this section you can find ways to explore what wildlife is around in winter, and how you can still to go wild despite the weather!

How does wildlife survive in the winter?

Lots of animals and plants are adapted to be able to survive in the winter. Which means they have something special about them that helps them survive, like a special body part - like thick fur or perhaps they behave in a certain way - like finding somewhere warm to sleep.

Animals tend to do one of three things in the winter depending on the animal. They either hibernate, migrate, or have special adaptations to let them survive. 

Hibernation: When an animal goes into a deep sleep over the cold months. In the Autumn before they go to sleep they tend to feed up on lots of food so that they done need to worry too much about feeding over the winter when they are sleeping.

Migration: This is when animals will move to another country. Some animals, like some birds, will move from our country to a warmer country in the winter. Or sometimes birds from countries even colder than ours will come to us for the winter.

Special adaptations: Some animals still carry on like normal over the winter but they have special things about them that help them survive. For examples foxes have a thick fur coat to keep them warm.

 

Discover and Explore

winter spotter
tracks and signs

More Winter Spotter Guides

Winter Garden Wildlife

How to spot winter garden wildlife

Winter Nuts and Berries

winter berries

How to Help Wildlife in the Winter

Make a bird feeder

Make a hedgehog home

Make hidey holes

Fun things you can do in the winter

Make an Ice Decoration