Nocturnal Creatures in England (mammals and birds)
A Wild Child’s Book of Nature at Night is a stunning illustrated guide to the creatures that wake up, when we all go to bed! Both beautiful and informative, this is a gorgeous book for night-time reading for big children too!
The book includes info on making bird-feeders. Learn of safe foods, cleaning and placement in our post on safe havens for garden birds. And how to prevent birds flying into windows.
If building a terrarium, read our post on pet-toxic plants to avoid.
Embark on a night-time adventure! You’ll learn how to use all your senses to experience the wonders that unfold at night, through five habitats across Britain and Ireland (the author is from Northern Ireland). You’ll meet:
- Hedgehogs and moths in the garden
- Bats, owls, foxes and badgers in woodlands
- Corncrakes and dormice in the countryside
- Pine martens, glow-worms and mountain hares in heathlands
- Animals that lives as constellations, in our sky!
This book is packed with interesting facts about our nocturnal animal friends, plus tips on how to protect the natural world around us. One you understand just how amazing our beautiful planet is, you’ll want to do all you can to protect it.
Dara McAnulty first came to attention when his incredible debut book Diary of a Young Naturalist was published in 2021, and immediately won him the Wainwright Nature Writing Prize, when still a teenager.
It told his story of how as an autistic young man, he would cope with his condition by getting out into nature, encountering blackbirds, whooper swans, red kites, hen harriers, frogs, dandelions and Irish hares.
Since then, he’s written and presented many natural history programmes for BBC radio and television, and become an ambassador for the RSPCA, the Jane Goodall Institute and the iWill campaign (he’s also the youngest ever recipient of the RSPB medal for conservation).
Dara currently is reading Natural Sciences at Cambridge University, and lives with his family (including a rescued greyhound) in Northern Ireland.
Mammals you might spot at night
Bats are some of the most reliable nocturnal animals in England. Several species are widespread, and many hunt insects on the wing. On summer evenings, look near ponds, rivers, canals, and tree lines, where insects gather. Gardens can be good too, especially near flowering plants and hedges.
You might also notice bats around streetlights, because moths and midges collect there. To the naked eye they can look like small, quick shadows with fluttering flight.
Hedgehogs often feed after dark, especially in suburban gardens with cover. They spend the night snuffling through leaf litter for beetles, worms, and slugs. If you sit quietly, you may hear rustling under shrubs or along a fence line.
A simple clue is their droppings, often dark, crumbly, and packed with insect bits. Small holes in lawns can also be a sign of night-time foraging.
Badgers live in family groups and use setts (burrow systems), often on woodland edges, banks, and thick hedgerows. They’re best known for hunting earthworms, which they pull from damp grass. As a result, mild, wet nights can be ideal for seeing signs of badgers, even if you don’t see the animals themselves.
Watch for well-worn paths through vegetation, scratch marks near sett entrances, and shallow pits where they’ve been digging. Latrines (small dung pits) can appear near territorial boundaries, often along paths or field edges.
Red foxes are active at night in both town and country. In cities they may trot along quiet streets, gardens, and railway lines, scavenging as well as hunting. In rural areas they work field margins, hedges, and rough grass for small mammals and birds.
People often hear foxes before they see them, especially during the breeding season, when sharp screams carry far in still air. Tracks can help too. Fox prints usually look narrower and neater than most dog prints, with a straighter line of travel.
Hazel dormice are a special case. They’re nocturnal, but they’re also rare, protected, and hard to spot. Dormice live in well-managed woodland, thick hedgerows, and scrub with plenty of food and nesting cover. They feed on flowers, pollen, berries, and insects through the warmer months, then hibernate in winter.
Most people never see one in the wild, and that’s normal. If you’re lucky, local conservation groups sometimes run guided surveys, but these follow strict rules because dormice are legally protected.
Night birds and other after-dark hunters
Owls sit near the top of many night-time food chains, yet you don’t need a remote moor to find them. The tawny owl is strongly linked with woodland, mature parks, and big gardens with old trees. Its classic hoot can sound like a conversation in the dark, and pairs may call back and forth across a boundary.
The barn owl often appears earlier, around dusk, and it’s easiest to spot over open country. Look along field edges, rough grass, and roadside verges where voles live. In flight, a barn owl can seem ghostly pale, with slow wingbeats and a wavering glide. It hunts mainly by sound, dropping suddenly when it pinpoints movement below.
Most small songbirds aren’t nocturnal because they rely on vision to find food, and they need sleep to stay sharp. At night they usually roost, tucked into dense shrubs or tree cover. That’s one reason nocturnal predators such as owls do well, the usual day-time watchers are out of action.
If you want night wildlife you can see almost anywhere, pay attention to moths. Porch lights, kitchen windows, and sheltered outdoor lamps can attract them in warm months. Moths matter because they feed bats, birds, and other insects. They also pollinate some plants after dark, when daytime pollinators have clocked off.
Finally, don’t forget amphibians. On warm, damp nights, common frogs and common toads often move through gardens to feed. They’ll hunt slugs, beetles, and other invertebrates, sometimes right on patios. Ponds, compost heaps, and log piles can all provide shelter, so a small garden can support surprising night-time activity.
