A habitat is a place where plants, animals and other organisms live. The word habitat originally comes from the Latin word habitare, which meant “to live or dwell” and it is used to refer to any environmental factors or physical resources in an area that allow any plants, animals or other organisms to survive, thrive and reproduce in that area.
Most plants, animals and other organisms need the environment that they live in to provide them with enough food, water and shelter to survive. They also need enough space to grow, breed and reproduce, as well as the right levels of light, air, moisture and temperature.
For example a rabbit would need a habitat that provided fresh water, grass as food, and ground soft enough to burrow in to shelter from the weather or predators. The environment would need enough light for the grass to grow, but not to be so hot or dry that the grass dies or the ground becomes to hard to dig and burrow into.
In the UK we have a wide range of habitats that include grassland, woodland, heathland, farmland, urban, freshwater, wetlands, coastal and marine habitats to name just a few. Within these habitats there is also a wealth of tiny micro habitats. Micro habitats are small areas with slightly differing conditions to the areas around them, for example a damp and cool space under a stone. Micro habitats can take a wide variety of forms from rotting wood or a patch of moss to a tiny tidal pool of water or a crevices in a cave.
You can find lots of simple ideas and ways to explore different areas and habitats below:
1. Explore Grassland habitats
Grass is an amazing and much over looked plant that provides food, shelter and homes for a wide variety of wildlife as well as producing oxygen, absorbing carbon, preventing soil erosion, filtering water and breaking down harmful microbes and pollutants. Grasses also provide an important source of food for thousands of species of wild animal from the tiniest of insects and minibeasts to birds, reptiles, fish and mammals of all sizes including the biggest land mammal of all the elephant. Almost all of the animals that rely on grass for food are also animals that are in turn eaten by predators. This makes grass an vital part of the wider food chain and without it many species of animal would not survive. You can easily explore a grassland habitat by visiting a field, meadow, park or nature reserve.
2. Sweep a net through long grass
Long grass is the perfect place for wildlife to hide with cool shade and moisture as well as plenty of food in the form of grass seed, wildflowers or even other insects. If you look along the stems and blades of long grass you can often find mini beasts such as grasshoppers, crickets, caterpillars, slugs and snails as well as eggs and larvae. The easiest way to catch insects in long grass is by gently sweeping a net through the grass stems. The Orthoptera & Allied Insect Society have a great guide to identifying any grasshoppers and crickets you might catch here.
3. Conduct a wildflower survey
Grassland habitats also support a wide variety of wild flowering plants. The open nature of grassland habitats in particular provides the plants with plenty of light and space to flourish in. You can easily conduct a simple grassland wildflower survey to explore some of the different species of plants hiding in the grass. All you need to do is explore a small section of grassland, lawn or meadow to see how many wildflowers you can find. It is a wonderful way to learn about different types of wildflowers and you can easily identify any you find using free downloadable wildflower guide sheets or wildflower guide books (check your local library for free copies to borrow).
4. Look for pollinators amongst the wildflowers
You will often find pollinating insects like bees, beetles, butterflies and moths in or around wildflowers. It is fascinating to watch them flit from flower to flower feeding on the nectar. You could take a notepad or camera with you to record your finds or even print out some nature bingo or scavenger hunt sheets. Can you see which types of flowers certain insects prefer? Are some more popular than others? You can find several handy guides to identifying pollinating insects below:
- Bumble Bee Conservation Trust guide to identifying bees.
- The Butterfly Conservation guide to identifying butterflies and moths here
- RSPB guide to beetles here.
- Countryfile guide to beetles here.
5. Explore a Woodland habitat
Trees are an important and vital part of our ecosystem, they create oxygen, soak up carbon dioxide, prevent soil erosion, retain nutrients in the soil and provide food and shelter for wildlife. Thousands of different species depend on trees from birds, mammals and invertebrates to reptiles, fungi, mosses and lichens. Even when a tree dies it still plays a vital role in the ecosystem. The dead wood creates nitrogen for the soil and provides habitats for a variety of animals. You can easily explore a woodland habitat by visiting a wood, forest, park or nature reserve.
6. Look at the undersides of leaves
The undersides of leaves are often teeming with insects, eggs, caterpillars and larva that you would normally overlook. It’s the perfect place for them to shelter away from predators, wind and rain as well as often providing a source of food. How about looking carefully up at the leaves on low tree branches or crouching down under a bush and shrub and looking up to see what you can find. You can find a great guide to identifying caterpillars here.
7. Shake a bush tree or shrub
Smaller harder to spot insects and fast moving spiders often live and shelter on the branches and leaves of bushes, trees and shrubs. If you carefully shake or tap tree branches you can then catch the insects that fall off in an umbrella, old sheet or washing tub placed beneath the branches.
Many of the insects will be quite tiny so look carefully for scurrying movement before they hide or escape. You can use a magnifying glass or pot to observe them more closely. Make sure you return any insects you find back to the same, tree, shrub of bush so they can return home safety. You can find a great photo to UK spiders here to help you identify any you might find. You can also help citizen science by recording any spider finding on the British Arachnological Society’s spider recording record site here.
8. Go on a woodland wildflower hunt
The leaves and branches of trees in woodland habitats often prevent sunlight from reaching the woodland floor from late sprint to autumn. The wild flowering plants in woodlands therefore either need to be able to grow in low light conditions (like the red campions below), or concentrate on growing and flowering in early spring (like bluebells) as this is the only time sunlight is fully able to reach them. The bare branches from trees emerging from winter allow sunlight to reach the woodland floor before the tree leaves grow back again, forming a thick canopy over head that blocks out the light once more. The woodland trust have a great photo guide to woodland flowers here that you can use to identify any woodland wildflowers you find.
9. Explore a Freshwater habitat
If you have a body of water near you like a pond, river, stream or lake you are bound to find them teeming with life. From fish, tadpoles and water insects to all types of interesting aquatic animals like newts, frogs and dragonfly nymphs. There will also be lots of other wonderful wildlife and birds in or around the water that you can look out for. Aquatic animals are animals that spend some or all of their lives in water. Several types insects and many amphibians start their lives underwater as eggs or larva before emerging onto the land or into the air as adults. Safety note: Children should be supervised at all times around open water. Please be aware of the health and safety risks of the area you visit.
10. Go pond dipping
Pond dipping is a fun way to find and observe aquatic wildlife and despite the name you can pond dip in any body of water as long as it’s safe to do so. (Please be aware of the health and safety risks or restrictions in any area you visit). All you need for pond dipping is a net and a container to hold water in. Welly boots and waterproofs might also be a good idea your child is likely to splash about in the water. An magnifying glass can also be fun but isn’t essential.
Simply fill your container with water directly from the area you are dipping in. Then carefully swirl your net through the water or gently on the bottom of the water to catch some aquatic wildlife. Carefully turn your net upside down on the surface of the water in your container so any creatures caught in the net are transferred safely into the container. Next watch the water carefully for signs of movement. Many of the creatures you will catch will be small and some are even translucent so they can sometimes be easy to miss at first glance.
There are lots of free photo guides you can download to help you identify any water insects or wildlife you might find. The RSPB have a fantastic pond mini beast guide that you can download here. And the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation have a great amphibian photo guide that you can download here.
11. Go bird watching
You can often easily find and observe many different types of birds in and around fresh water. The RSPB have great picture guide to identifying birds here. There are many types of birds that feed on aquatic wildlife like Herons, King fishers and Egrets. There are also many types of waterfowl, which are birds that have waterproof feathers and webbed feet for swimming like geese, ducks, swans and coots. They often nest near water on banks or in reeds. If you are ever lucky enough to spot a wild bird nest or find an egg then the Woodland Trust have a guide to identifying eggs here. However please don’t disturb any wild birds nests you might find, please just quietly observe them it from a distance. Don’t touch or disturb either the eggs or the nesting site as that might then cause the parents to abandon the eggs.
12. Explore a Coastal habitat
If you live anywhere near the coast you can easily explore a shoreline, beach or tidal river, where you are bound to discover and find a wonderful array of fascinating sea life in the intertidal zone. The intertidal zone is the area of land that in covered by water at high tide and is then exposed at low tide. It can be divided into 3 main areas high, middle and low. Sea life that exists in the high tidal area has to be able to withstand the impact of the waves, keep themselves moist and also be able to avoid predators so they tend to be hardy marine creatures with hard shells like crabs, barnacles and limpets.
13. Go on a sea shell hunt
The easiest and most obvious things to find in the intertidal zone are seashells. Seashells come from marine invertebrates like molluscs which are animals without a backbone. Instead of a backbone they have a shell which forms an exoskeleton to support their bodies and protect them from predators. They build the shells when they are young using sea minerals like calcium, carbonate and salt. When the animal dies it leaves behind its shell which can often get washed up into the intertidal zone.
When you stop to look closely for seashells you might be surprised by the variety of species that you can find. The Marine Biological Association have a brilliant free guide to identifying seashells that you can download here to print off and take with you on your adventures. Don’t forget to look closely at the patterns and textures of the shells as well. Often shells that look very similar in shape size and colour have very different patterns which is a good way to work out the species.
14. Go on a sea snail safari
Sea snails can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and you can normally find them clinging to rocks and other surfaces along the intertidal zone. You might be surprised to find that limpets are a type of sea snail along with periwinkles, whelks and top shells. How about going on a sea snail safari to see how many species you can spot. The Wildlife Trust have great photo guide to identifying sea snails here.
15. Go rock pooling
Rock pools are a fantastic example or microhabitats and a great place to find a wide array of underwater sea life like crabs, goby fish, jelly fish, sea urchins, starfish and sea anemones (pictured below). There are more than 4,500 species of crabs in the world, 62 of which live in or around the waters of the UK. However you are most likely to only find the 5-8 most common varieties by the shore. There is great guide to identifying any crabs you find here.
If you get lucky you may even spot some jelly fish. The most common jellyfish to find on UK shores is the Moon jelly fish which mostly drifts with the currants feeding on plankton. You can identify them by the four circles on the under side of the dome, these circles are actually the reproductive organs. Did you know that jellyfish don’t have brains, hearts or blood and they are 95% made of water?
16. Go on a seaweed hunt
Did you know there are over 11,000 species of seaweed in the world, 600 of which can be found in the UK. Seaweed provides food and shelter to a variety of marine creatures as well as producing oxygen, capturing carbon, absorbing toxins and in some cases even reducing the acidity of sea water. The National History Museum are researching the effect of environmental change on UK’s sea life by asking people to take time to look at the different types of seaweed on their local shores. This is a simple and easy Citizen science project that even the littlest of leaners can take part in. All you need to do is download the Big Seaweed Search Guide here and then visit a shore to survey a 5 metre wide area. You can then submit your results here.
17. Explore Urban habitats
You might be surprised to find even the most urban spaces are teeming with wildlife when you take the time to look closely. From busy bustling cities and towns to gardens, parks and industrial and commercial areas. As wildlife habitats are in decline it’s more important than ever to make space for wildlife in urban spaces especially our gardens. You can find a whole range of simple and easy ideas for making a home for wildlife in your garden here. Even if you don’t have a garden you can make use of a window box or doorstep plant pots to plant wildflowers or hang insect, bird or bat boxes from a wall, fence or window.
18. Create and compare micro habitats
You can easily create your own micro habitats to observe in your garden or by using plant pots or window boxes. You could create a micro grass habitats, bog gardens, mini rockeries, hedges, plant a tree or make a mini wildlife pond. How about experimenting with different areas of shade and light or explore different levels of moisture or soil consistency.
19. Create a pond habitat
Ponds are important source of food, water and shelter for many animals and insects. From amphibians like frogs and newts, to aquatic mini beasts and insects like dragon flies (which begun their lives as underwater nymphs) and bats and birds that eat some of the insects. Making a small wildlife pond habtat is very simple, all you need is a watertight container (or waterproof sheeting). Pond plants, rain water, soil, stones rubble and bricks.
The first thing you need to do is dig a hole big enough to fit your container in. You then need to put a base of soil into the container to provide nutrients for the pond plants to grow in, and somewhere for water insects to burrow. Next you need to make sure there is a basic staircase at one end to create an easy escape route for any wildlife that may fall in the pond. (To prevent accidental drowning). You could also add in some rubble, stones and old small terracotta plant pots to provide hiding places for aquatic minibeasts. Now you can fill the pond with rain water or water from a natural local source (that you can safely collect in buckets ) It’s best use natural water as it won’t contain any of the fluoride or other chemicals may be present in tap water.
The final and most important thing to put in your pond are aquatic plants that will create oxygen in the water and provide a source of food and shelter for pond creatures and insects. We used duck weed as our tadpoles love it and it creates a nice cover over the pond to give them lots of shelter. Now you can leave your pond to flourish and grow. Just keep an eye on the wildlife that visits your habitat throughout the year.
Safety note: Open water of any kind can present a drowning risk for small children and pets. Please make sure your pond is secured in some way (with netting or barriers) so children and pets are prevented from accessing the water.
20. Grow a bog garden
Bog gardens are damp, moisture rich habitats that provide the perfect environment for a wide variety of water loving plants and animals. To make a boggy garden or planter you will need to line the base of the planter or a dig a wide large hole in the garden and then line it with an old paddling pool or a plastic liner for a pond. Make sure the lining has a few tiny holes for drainage. The idea is to retain moisture and create damp boggy ground but not let it become over flooded. Next cover the liner with soil and water it with rainwater to make it nice and damp. Finally plant some marshy plants like Marsh-marigold, Yellow Iris, Creeping Jenny, Meadowsweet, Snake’s-head-fritillary, Plaintain Lily, Water Avons or Hemp-agrimony.
21. Make a terrarium
A terrarium is a clear container that contains soil and plants creating a mini self contained habitat. It is a great way to observe plants like moss growing. You can use any old clear glass jar or bottle to make your a terrarium. you will also need a lid to help seal in the moisture and keep the environment nice and humid for your plant or moss. Firstly place a small layer of stones or pebbles at the bottom of your container to create a drainage area. Next put a layer of dried moss or sphagnum moss to create a cushion for the next layer of soil. Finally place some a small plant or live moss on the top of the soil and pat it down firmly but gently. Finally lightly spray or drip some water onto your plant or moss before placing on a lid to seal in the moisture. Maintaining your finished terrarium is quick and easy simply open the lid every few days to let fresh air in and top moisture levels if needed.
For day 9 of 30 days wild 2024, We explored three different types of habitats by visiting a woodland, grassland and coastal shore. We also found lots of interesting wildlife along the way and played quite a few games of chase and hide and seek.
If you like this you might like to try:
Exploring trees and woods 30+ activity ideas
Exploring the shore 20 activity ideas
16 Freshwater and aquatic wildlife activities
15 Nature therapy and mindfulness activity ideas
Childsplayabc ~ Nature is our playground 