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Across the UK, a collection of natural marvels reveal themselves at this
time of year, including some of the rarest and most spectacular
phenomena that the country has to offer.
For many Brits, the winter months – particularly once Christmas and New
Year have passed – are all about hunkering down at home and waiting for
the freeze to thaw. Across the British Isles, though, a collection of
natural marvels reveals itself at this time of year, including some of
the rarest and most spectacular phenomena that the country has to offer.
From ghostly optical illusions to flocks of dancing birds, these British
winter wonders are enough to encourage even the most ardent homebody to
get their boots on, brush up on their photography skills and brave the
big chill.
Mountain hares
Animals changing their coats in the winter is a phenomenon often
associated with polar species: the Arctic fox, Peary caribou and
Canada's collared lemming, for instance. Less well known is that the
British Isles have an animal of their own that dons a dashing white
winter coat: the mountain hare.
Although it is now vanishingly rare, this is Britain's only native hare
– the brown hare, much more common today, was introduced to Britain by
the Romans. England's only population of mountain hares lives in the
Peak District, where the animal was reintroduced in the 1800s. They can
be spotted in their snow-white winter coats between November and April,
bathing in the pale sunlight in areas of moorland and heather. One of
their favoured haunts is Bleaklow, a mountain along the Pennine Way
atmospherically scattered with the wreckage of World War Two aircraft.
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The largest concentration of mountain hares in the UK, though, is in the
Scottish Highlands, where the animals can be spotted on sheltered slopes
covered in thin snow, beneath which they dig for food. Mountain hares
can be found all over the region, but a popular spot is the Monadhliath
Mountains, southeast of Loch Ness. While you're there, look out for the
mountain hare's avian equivalent: the ptarmigan. This plump, grouse-like
animal is the only British bird that turns white in winter, and the UK's
only population also lives in the Scottish Highlands.
Brocken spectres
Scotland is also one of the best places in the UK to spot another
mountain phenomenon: the eerie Brocken spectre. Many a hillwalker has
paused on a mountain trail and turned to admire a cloud-scattered view,
only to be confronted with a huge, looming shadow figure, often with
rainbow-coloured glory rings emanating from its head.
This creepy optical illusion is actually the walker's own shadow,
magnified to enormous proportions. It appears when the Sun rises on one
side of the walker and casts their shadow onto a blanket of cloud on the
other side. As such, it is especially common during cloud inversions,
when clouds gather in valleys below mountaintops, giving the impression
of a soft white ocean. A light wind completes the spooky effect, making
the spectre move as if it has a life of its own.
The Brocken spectre takes its name from the Brocken, a mountain in
Germany where it is commonly observed, but it can be spotted in the
right conditions in highland areas across the UK, from the Lake District
to the Malvern Hills. The most storied spot to see it though is Ben
Macdui, the highest peak in Scotland's Cairngorms Mountains and the
second-highest mountain in Britain.
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Sightings of Brocken spectres here are likely to have inspired the
legend of the Big Grey Man (Am Fear Liath Mòr in Scottish Gaelic) of Ben
Macdui. The Grey Man matches the description of the Brocken spectre – a
tall, thin shadow figure obscured by fog – though he is accompanied by
the eerie added elements of the sound of crunching gravel and a general
feeling of unease.
Many people report feeling alarmed or unsettled by their experience of
the Brocken spectre, and the symbolic quality of the phenomenon – its
ability to terrify a person with nothing more than their own shadow –
has been commented on by the likes of poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge and
psychoanalyst Carl Jung.
Starling murmurations
One of the best loved phenomena in the world of birdwatching – and often
described as Britain's greatest natural spectacle – is murmuration, the
species-specific word given to the flocking behaviour of starlings.
These small birds are very social animals, often roosting together in
their thousands, and during the winter months they flock together to fly
at dawn and dusk in remarkable swirling formations, like a synchronised
dance troupe casting morphing silhouettes against the twilit sky.
It's thought that the flocking behaviour, much like shoaling of fish,
serves the purpose of confusing predators as well as sharing warmth and
communication. The name "murmuration" comes from the murmuring sound
generated by the collective flap of the birds' wings, which can be
impressively loud as they pass overhead. There's much that seems
mysterious about murmuration, not least how the starlings do it without
crashing into each other. The birds move in unison, but in incredibly
complex patterns, as if they are tapped into a hive mind – but in fact,
it's their incredibly quick reaction times that keep them from
colliding.
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There's something awe-inspiring about witnessing this ancient avian
dance, which takes place at sunrise and sunset across the UK between
November and February. Although murmurations happen inland too, coastal
areas are particular hotspots. Aberystwyth, in west Wales, sees
murmurations take place over its Victorian seafront pier – a picturesque
juxtaposition of human engineering and natural wonderment that is a
favourite of photographers.
The dark night
Britain is a densely populated island, and really dark night skies can
be hard to find in built-up areas. In fact, according to Kielder
Observatory in the north-eastern English county of Northumberland, "85%
of the UK population has never seen a truly dark sky or experienced the
sense of wonder that a clear night filled with billions of stars can
give."
Outside the cities and towns, though, true darkness can still be found.
Kielder Observatory sits in the second-largest area of protected dark
sky in Europe, and holds several stargazing evenings each week in the
winter months. The observatory is a remarkable construction in itself: a
futuristic, boxy building made from local spruce and larch trees,
looking like an organic spaceship that's crash-landed amid the dark
conifers of Kielder Forest.
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Nights at the observatory follow different themes, focusing variously on
topics including the life cycles of stars, the planets of the solar
system, and the night sky's great light show: the aurora. Traditionally,
if Brits wanted to see the Northern Lights reliably, it meant booking a
pricey holiday to the distant north: Finland, Sweden or somewhere else
on the fringes of the Arctic Circle. In autumn 2024, however, the Sun
entered a solar maximum, a period of heightened activity that brings the
aurora out in vivid technicolour at more southerly locations than usual,
including Britain. This period is expected to last for two or three
years before gradually declining, and Northumberland – with its
northerly latitude and dark night skies – is an excellent place to spot
the Northern Lights.
Kielder is also home to one of England's only populations of red
squirrel, the country's native squirrel, which is at risk of extinction
thanks to the introduction of its cousin, the grey squirrel. Although
red squirrels can be spotted year-round, they are very elusive, and the
winter can be the best time to spot them, when their russet-coloured
coats stand out more vividly against the blanket of snow.
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