Birdwatching walks

Two linnet birds perched on top of the flowering heath at Studland Bay, Dorset | © National Trust Images/Rob Coleman

The places we care for are home to a wide variety of native and migrant birds, including wildfowl, waders, songbirds and birds of prey. Choose from our selection of walks and combine coastal or countryside scenery with birdwatching opportunities all year round.

Please don't feed waterfowl

Feeding ducks, swans and other waterfowl can be harmful to the birds and may pollute waterways.

Blakeney Freshes, Norfolk: Blakeney Freshes is a popular spot for bird watching. In autumn and winter, large swirling flocks of golden plover move between the harbour and the marshes, while the fields and salt marsh provide grazing for wigeon and dark brent geese from Siberia.Spot birds at Blakeney Point
Brownsea Island, Dorset: Brownsea Island's habitats include heathland, woodland and a lagoon – internationally important for overwintering and summer-nesting birds. Look out for wading birds, including black-tailed godwit, redshank and large numbers of avocet. Another spectacular bird to see is the spoonbill, which can often be seen in groups feeding or sleeping on the far side of the water.Spot birds on Brownsea Island
Lizard Point, Cornwall: Choughs are the national bird of Cornwall, but by the mid-20th century they had vanished from Cornish shores. Your donations allowed us to buy land at Lizard Point and recreate the conditions for choughs to thrive. In 2001, wild choughs were once again sighted on the Lizard and have been breeding here ever since.Spot birds at Lizard Point
Craster to Low Newton, Northumberland: Keep a look out for eider ducks, know locally as Cuddy's ducks, in the sheltered rockpools along this walk. On the shoreline, you might see waders such as oystercatchers, dunlins, ringed plovers, turnstones and redshanks. And you can also spot linnets and yellowhammers in the scrub and grassland behind the dunes and castle.Spot birds in Craster and Low Newton

A waxwing sits in branches with red berries and a blue sky — A winter-visiting waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) among hawthorn berries | © National Trust Images/Dougie Holden

Cwm Ivy, Gower: There are lots of birds to spot at Cwm Ivy, including egrets, kingfishers and lapwings. There are two bird hides, which makes this a great place for a day of birdwatching.Spot birds at Cwm Ivy
Calke Abbey, Derbyshire: As well as a grand Baroque mansion, Calke has secret walled gardens and a large parkland, much of which is a National Nature Reserve. You can see birds of prey such as hobbies, buzzards and red kites here, particularly in the summer months, along with woodland birds such as woodpeckers, tree creepers, nuthatches, starlings and tits. Autumn visitors include bramblings and siskin finches.Spot birds at Calke Abbey
Souter Lighthouse and the Leas, Tyne and Wear: The Leas and Whitburn Coastal Park are hotspots for migratory birds in the UK. Pay a visit to the bird hide in autumn to see snow buntings, waxwings and dunnocks arriving from the north, as many summer birds depart for places with hotter weather.Spot birds at Souter Lighthouse

Redwing at Stowe, Buckinghamshire | © National Trust Images/David Humphries

St Helens Duver, Isle of Wight: You can see brent geese and wigeons at St Helens Duver between October and March, feeding on the eelgrass beds off St Helens Ledges and in the harbour. The area is also important for migrant wading birds such as dunlins, redshanks, sanderlings and turnstones. On the dunes, you may spot common whitethroats, wheatears, chiffchaffs and linnets.Spot birds at St Helens Duver
Tennyson Down, Isle of Wight: The cliffs, fields and high downs around Tennyson Down, and at the Island’s most southerly point near Knowles Farm, are excellent sites for birdwatching. Peregrine falcons and ravens patrol the coast, migrant terns and ducks pass by out at sea and the scrub attracts migrant warblers and chats.Spot birds at Tennyson Down
Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire: This nature reserve is teeming with wildlife, including a wide variety of bird species. In the summer and early autumn there are swallows and martins. As they fly south, migrants such as wigeons, redwings and fieldfares begin to appear, along with hen harriers returning from their summer breeding grounds in northern Britain.Spot birds at Wicken Fen