Self-catering accommodation and country cottages for bird watchers in SW England

Bird watching on holiday can be great fun but can require some patience and persistence. Discover the best places in the South West of England for birdwatching and draw up a list of places you'd like to birdwatch on your break away.

• Cottages in the West Country for bird watchers and nature lovers
   

Top Places for Bird-Watching in the South West of England

Yarner Wood National Nature Reserve, a couple miles west of Bovey Tracey in Devon - mixed woodland with mainly sessile oak, Scots pine, holly and rowan.   It is located to the east of the Dartmoor National Park.  Among the birds that breed here are wood warblers and pied flycatchers (in nest boxes), grey wagtails and dippers.

Exe Estuary - near Exmouth in Devon.  Extensive mud flats and sand-flats are exposed at low tide which attract numerous waders.  The marshes are divided into two areas: Exminster Marshes and Bowling Green marsh.  Opposite Exmouth,  is Exe Estuary Bird Sanctuary, which is worth a special visit.  In the spring lapwings and redshanks breed here.  Also find greenshanks, spotted redshanks, black-tailed godwits, purple sandpipers and sanderlings. Various migrant terns and waders visit during the autumn. Over-wintering birds are curlews, lapwings, Slavonian and black-eyed grebes, red-breasted mergansers, shelduck, Brent geese, wigeon and pintail.

Aylesbeare Common - a heathland with valley bogs and streams surrounded by scrub, heather, gorse and mixed woodland. Find tree pipits, buzzards, ravens, nightjars, stonechats and Dartford warblers. Two nature trails.

Chapel Wood - RSPB mixed wood.  It's a small wood 3 miles north of Braunston, Devon. Find woodland birds; nuthatches, redstarts, tree-creepers, warblers, tits and possibly ravens and buzzards.

Radipole Lake in Weymouth,  Dorset. This RSPB nature reserve contains freshwater and brackish lagoons.  It is an important resting place for migratory birds in the autumn, e.g. swallows, sand-martins, yellow wagtails, black terns and other waterfowl.

Abbotsbury Swannery is worth a visit at the end of May until mid June to see hundreds of mute swans nesting and their cygnets. Swans have been breeding at Abbotbury in Devon for almost 700 years. The herd is protected, their diet supplemented and the nests themselves are discreetly looked after by staff and volunteers. A tourist industry has arisen around the swans and visitors will find an 'Ugly Duckling Trail', an audio visual presentation, plus the usual coffee and gift shop.  The nearest station is Weymouth.

West Sedgemoor  near Bridgwater, Somerset - one of England's largest wet grazing meadows.  Find waders and waterfowl, particularly teal, wigeon and lapwing.

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