November 24, 2025
Greyhope Bay's Guide to Winter Wildlife Watching
By Adam Robertson (Biodiversity Co-ordinator Volunteer)
Cold, bleak, and dark, and with the constant looming threat of popular Christmas hits; winter proves to be a challenging time for many of us. Despite those few weeks of joyful festivities, most of the season is spent waking up in the dark, seeing the sun out of the “office window” and eating dinner at night, and with such little daylight, how does one find the time to get outside and enjoy the local wildlife? Well fear not my seasonally affected friend, for I proudly present to you, Greyhope Bay's guide to winter wildlife watching - or wildlifing as we like to call it!
What is Wildlifing?
Wildlifing is a fantastic, utterly made-up word created for the specific purpose of this article. It is the verb I shall be using to describe the act of engaging in, enjoying, and getting a sense of connection or fulfilment by interacting with wildlife. Whether that be through appreciating the morning chorus of birds or getting stuck into the brilliant but taxonomically challenging world of moss, everyone, in some way, will be able to enjoy the simple act of wildlifing.
Wildlifing is of course, easiest in summer, when wildlife is most active. However, for me, it plays an essential role in sanity maintenance over the winter months, and I hope it can help others too! So, in no particular order, here are the best ways to enjoy wildlifing this winter.
1 - Keep a Wildlife Log
In my opinion, one of the best ways to beat the winter blues. First, go treat yourself to a nice new notebook or sketch pad. Next, set aside ten or twenty minutes a day for entries. As you go about your day, make a mental note of the species you see, even if you don’t know what they are. When you get home, take some time to learn about them. Draw a sketch, stick a sample to the page, identify it, draw where you found it, make notes, etc. This helps you to take notice of the wildlife around you as you go through your routine and is an excellent way to enjoy wildlifing in the comfort of your home. Especially during those long evenings!
2 – Look for Mammal Tracks!
In winter, many (but not all) mammals hibernate or enter astate of torpor, and let’s be honest, we would too if we could. However, just because the mammals are cosied up, doesn’t mean you can’t try your hand at abit of tracking. Even better, it's far easier than you might think.
Voles, mice and shrews will all leave little holes and corridors in dense grassy tussocks. Once you get your eye in, they’re easy to spot, and you would be surprised just how many you find in just a small patch of grass. Voles will also ‘mow’ small circles of grass to use as latrines.
In woodlands, you may come across the discarded husks of hazelnuts and acorns, victims of a hungry bank vole or wood mouse. If you're particularly keen, you can even tell them apart by their teeth marks.
Just make sure to wash your hands after handling anything you find as some mammals can carry harmful diseases.
3 – Search the cemeteries for ladybirds
Fancy something more gothic? Crunch over the snow to your nearest graveyard and search the gravestones for hibernating ladybirds.
Why graveyards? When trees lose their leaves, ladybirds fall to the ground and seek refuge in the cracks and often the letters of old gravestones. That means that you will find more ladybirds in graveyards with more trees and old gravestones. Basically, the spookier the better! If you want to go one step further, you could even upload anything you find to iRecord and help conservation efforts.
Something cool to observe is the type of tree they are underneath; you are likely to find some tree species (particularly sycamore) yield more ladybirds than others (perhaps making a nice entry to your winter log), which brings us nicely to our next point.
4 – Learn to identify trees
Some consider winter tree ID to be difficult, and whilst it is harder than summer tree ID, it’s still doable. In my opinion, it provides more of a challenge.
Lots of ID guides are available to buy for less than a fiver, and there are even some online for free. Many trees have distinct buds and are easy to recognise after learning just one or two tricks. For example, ash trees have black buds (and remind me of deer hooves), oak trees have a ‘knuckle’ or ‘fist’ of buds and look like they’re picking a fight, and beech trees have sharp spears.
5 - Feed the birds
This one provides some controversy, arguments arise over feeding ducks bread, domesticating wild birds, interfering with the natural order of things, etc. Let’s be honest, it’s pretty bleak in winter sometimes, and our feathered friends could do with a hand. If you are going to feed the birds however, here’s my advice on how best to do so.
1. Use bird seed, not bread. Bread gets all slimy and mushy when it rains and doesn’t provide the birds with the nutrients they need but does fill them up. Help them stay healthy and use bird seed instead.
2. If you can, buy non-fertile bird seed. Bird seed can actually germinate into plants such as grasses and sunflowers. The eagle eyed among you may even find the odd sunflower or patch of oats around Greyhope Bay. Non-fertile seeds don’t do this.
3. Feed different birds. Garden bird feeders provide a much-needed food source in an environment where there otherwise isn’t much (berries don’t grow on buildings after all, a bird’s equivalent of money not growing on trees!). However, if you’re in a more food abundant area, move around a little bit. You don’t want the birds to become too dependant on your daily visits!
6 – Join one of our bird surveys!
We run regular bird surveys at Greyhope Bay which can be booked through Eventbrite! They are organised by myself, who is at best an amateur, and at worst forgetting to my bring binoculars, so there really isn’t any expectation of skill. Just come along and enjoy pointing and asking (if you’re a beginner) or help us out with ID (if you’re an expert)! There’s usually some sort of cake involved too if you need more persuading! Our next bird survey is Thursday 4th December, 10:00 - 12:00: click here to book your free space.
Finally ...
However, you enjoy wildlifing, just remember to take a minute to look around and see what wildlife is doing. The idea that it goes away in winter is false, it just does other things, and if you know where and how to look you will start to see it everywhere!
So, I encourage you, brave winter wildlifer, don your boots and go to your nearest patch of trees, grass, scrub, bramble, pond, marsh or boggy bit. Bring your coat, hat and scarf, and your best winter mindset and see what you can find!
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