British Travel Journal | Autumn/Winter 2022

From its highest peaks to its urban centres, Britain is
a wildlife wonderland where orchids reclaim defunct
quarries, peregrine falcons nest on church towers, and
lion’s mane jellyfish trail flowing tentacles just off our
shores. Book author Charlotte Varela tells us more...
Text by Charlotte Varela
The natural world became an
escape – even a lifeline – for so
many of us over the course of
the past two years. So, too, did
our allotted daily walks; one precious hour
to forget about everything else and relish
streets, lanes and parks now echoing with
birdsong rather than car horns. Walks and
wildlife go hand in hand.
NORTH
When I tell someone I’m from the North
of England, I’m often met by one of two
responses: a quizzical, almost pitying look, or
a question about whether I spend time in the
Peak District or the Lake District.
There is so much more to the North than
mist, mizzle and the paths most trodden.
Just off the M6 motorway and a stone’s
throw from the city of Preston in Lancashire,
there is a hidden oasis.
Brockholes Nature Reserve is a lush
retreat into wilderness, where snipe feed on
the edges of sparkling lakes, hobbies snatch
dragonflies from mid-air and stoats scamper
sneakily through the shelter of flower-rich
grassland.
Imagine my surprise when, after pausing
on the footpath to take a sip from my water
bottle, a whole family of rambunctious
stoats dove out of the grass on one side and
tumbled into the cover of the other.
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