Daytrips from Watford - preferably things to do with wildlife
 

Hi, I will be staying in watford for a couple of days next spring and has two free days. Would like to explore some wildlife in uk. Can anyone recommend any nice daytrips out to the seaside/countryside for some wildlife watching, from Watford?

Many thanks.

You could visit the London Wetland Centre http://www.wwt.org.uk/visit-us/london
It's strange to see the birds peacefully wading about with jets flying overhead.

For a slightly longer journey, I think you would like Minsmere in Suffolk
http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/m/minsmere/

You could visit the reserve and perhaps have time to walk over to Dunwich over the Heath. The Heath is owned by the National Trust and is an important habitat.
Southwold is a bit further along the coast and is a charming little seaside town, almost untouched by modernity.

If you have a car, or someone to drive you you can head out into the Chilterns and watch the red kites and their mating flights. Wonderful to see. You could do that for a morning.
The Barnes wetlands are not too far away either:
http://www.wwt.org.uk/visit-us/london

Or go across to Slimbridge in Gloucestershire. http://www.wwt.org.uk/visit-us/slimbridge - you could combine that with the red kites!

Thanks. I really want to go see puffins. Where shd I go?

Puffins could be difficult.
I may be wrong, but I think that we are talking about more than a day trip.
This website will give you idea about where they breed
http://www.beautiful-england.co.uk/puffinfaq.htm
This year I saw them on Lunga near Mull and the website is quite correct. They were quite fearless
I was only a couple of feet away from this character
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5953925...57626600776281

<i>Thanks. I really want to go see puffins. Where shd I go?
</i>

Simple answer: nowhere near Watford. Closest place would probably be the Farne Islands off the coast of Northumberland (about a 5 hour drive north of Watford - do not even <i>think</i> about doing this as a day trip). Other locations are the Hebrides and Northern Isles in Scotland - much further north still.

Places to see puffins:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/bird...fin/index.aspx
All a long way from Watford I'm afraid, and a lot will depend on the weather for viewing them, and of course on when in spring you are there.

Not a lot of puffins in Herts :)

For puffins you need to go to far northern England or Scotland.

Do you want to take trains or will you have a car? Makes a big difference where you could reasonably travel.

Slimbridge mentioned above would be about 3 hours each way by car, about 30 minutes longer by train w/ 2 or 3 changes. Not really 'day-tripable'

For your interests, I might consider heading to the Norfolk coast for 2 days --stay overnight in Kings Lynn, Burnham Market or thereabouts. Several nature reserves in the area and about 2.5 hours by trains from Watford.

If your two days are not consecutive then you'd have to stay closer to home.

thanks. We can do a 2-3 days trip but wouldnt be driving as my partner doesnt dare drive in a foreign country. Is there an affordable package or public transport to these islands? Checked rspb, puffins are either in north scotland or south near plysmouth. Which shd I go, considerations being distance, accessibility by public transport & cost??

Many thanks!

OK, it looks as though the boat trips to the Farne Islands go from Seahouses.
There is not a direct rail service that this is a helpful website
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main...ttingthere.htm

It's a long journey just to see puffins although the islands are worth a trip.

Minsmere can guarantee you avocets, not as cute as puffins, but beautiful birds and endangered not so long ago.
This is how you get there by public transport
http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guid...irections.aspx

I live in Hertfordshire and am grinning at the idea of puffins!

New Forest = 2hr drive

South Downs = 2.5 hrs

North Norfolk Coast (I'm thinking Blakeney for seals and seabirds) = 3hrs.

New Forest = 2hr drive

South Downs = 2.5 hrs

I live within 20 minutes of both - No puffins here either (but I suspect RM67 knows this :-) )

Lol - yes - I meant these are nice places for countryside/wildlife in general, not that you will suddenly be entering puffin territory!

I'm ok to travel anywhere just to see these cute birds. Will be in watford as base for London and also hopefully to visit the new harry potter studio, then off to visit puffins then to Paris.

Sorry for being so random but I love sea wildlife. Love those seatrips i made in australia - philips island, rockingham, thought i cant miss them in uk. Who knows when i can come back to this part of the world, it's so far from where im at. Maybe I shd reduce the days in London n paris just to squeeze a trip to Scotland. What do you think? 3 days in London including 1 day for bicester village, 4 days in Paris n 3 days in scotland. 2 days for the air travel to & fro. I only have 12 days in total.

Ok -- LOTS of new questions arise . . .

You are staying in <i>Watford</i> to visit London and Bicester?? And for a 2-day puffin seeking trip? Watford isn't really a practical base for any of these.

Why Watford specifically? And while you might want to visit Bicester Village if you are staying in Oxfordshire or Buckinghamshire, it really isn't worth a special trip.

You may want to re-think this whole plan.

My husband's sister is living in watford.

OK-- so you are staying w/ relatives. Free is good :) . But you will be spending a lot of time traveling around so you'll still want to rethink what you want to do/how you do it.

Is your SIL driving you to Bicester? If not - I'd skip it. (I'd probably skip it in any case) You only have 3 days for London so a day going to Bicester seems a huge waste.

Also -- are you flying in to the UK? If so you might consider flying to Scotland, spend 2 days on your puffin search (like a boat trip to the Isle of May which is in Fife not too far from Edinburgh). Then fly down to London and stay w/ the SIL. Then take the Eurostar to Paris.

Ya prob I w have to skip bicester village. Flying in to Scotland is so expensive I'm not sure why. Isle of may sounds good.

Farnes islands also looks good.

http://www.farne-islands.com/gallery/index.htm

Look at this- the puffins in flight are so darn cute! So is the young seal pup underwater.

The Farne puffins look really cute - can I come?

But having to go via Seahouses? Isn't that the utterly grim place where everything is grey. And near a nuclear power station?

On the Puffin page, I couldn't help smirking at "A Shag - typical pose" .... I'm quite embarrassed that I still find such things funny!

It's growing up on a diet of 'Carry On' films, Willit....

<i>But having to go via Seahouses? Isn't that the utterly grim place where everything is grey. And near a nuclear power station?</i>

Nope - you must be confusing it with somewhere completely different. The Northumberland coast near Seahouses is renowned for long sandy beaches, castles and small fishing villages. I've only visited the Farne Islands once (many years ago), it's where I first discovered my propensity for seasickness!

The OP's fundamental problem is that all this is a very long way from Watford. Another point to bear in mind is that the boat trips out to the Farne Islands only run regularly from April to October so not sure if this coincides with the timing of their trip.

The place I am thinking of is near Carlisle.

Which might be on the other side.

(Can you tell I don't venture north very often?!)

Er... yes, Carlisle is on the other side of the country from Seahouses. Literally. Perhaps you're confused with Seascale next to the Sellafield nuclear re-processing plant (NB not a power station).

It might be Seascale.

All the houses are grey stone, the sea is grey, and it rains all the time. And there is some sort of nuclear connection.

Surely someone can recognise it from my detailed description?

"Surely someone can recognise it from my detailed description?"

Mmmm All grey and rains all the time:- doesn't that just describe anything "up North"? (Where it's Grim - everybody knows this)

Anyway, I think we've established that Greyscale (or wherever) is not on the way to Puffin Island.

I hope the OP appreciates all our help.

of course!

some other forums suggested Dancing Ledge (single number pairs) just to the west of Durlston Country Park, Swanage, Dorset. Portland Bill (one pair) is slightly further west.

Anyone been there too?

More puffin pics:
http://500px.com/ProjectPuffin2011

willit on Oct 12, 11 at 5:01am
Mmmm All grey and rains all the time:- doesn't that just describe anything "up North"? (Where it's Grim - everybody knows this)

Don't you start!

Signed, a Northern Monkey, aka Kestrel Strangler :D

:-)

Hm, well I've lived in Scotland for 18 years now and have never managed to see a single puffin, even on a trip to Staffa in late May (a friend who went at the same time a year earlier was practically tripping over them). So there are no guarantees, and I don't think I'd want to base 2 whole days on the possibility of seeing them, especially in February - they are not normally even back in the UK by then, they arrive in spring. And I doubt any boat trips to any of the likely islands will be running in February.

Having dismally failed to help the OP find Puffins within easy reach of Watford, maybe I can offer this rather wonderful picture as compensation.

http://tinyurl.com/63ndsqk

He looks like he's doing the Highland Fling :)

How cute.

I've seen lots of puffins (but never one dancing) largest numbers were on two trips out to the Isle of May and a couple times on Staffa.

But the OP needs to re-think their plans/priorities. I wouldn't base a trip based on one or two breeding pairs. And as Caroline's post shows -- even places where there are lots of of birds won't guarantee actually seeing them.

This is probably crazy and might not be practicable...

But if OP is coming from the US, would it be worth looking for a plane which lets them have a layover in Iceland to see puffins?