United Kingdom

Europa

Capital: LondonMay to September

658

Documented species

Parks and reserves

Dive sites

Explore on the map

Interactive map

The United Kingdom is an archipelago with an impoverished land fauna, the consequence of millennia of deforestation and the early loss of its large carnivores, but extraordinarily rich along the coast. Its cliffs and islands hold seabird colonies of global importance: gannets, puffins, guillemots and skuas gather in summer in Scotland, Wales and the islands of the North Atlantic. Inland, heather moorland, Highland grassland, relict Caledonian pine forest and the wetlands of the Broads and the Fens dominate. The Scottish wildcat is on the brink of extinction and the red squirrel is retreating before the North American grey squirrel, while the beaver, the red kite and the white-tailed eagle have returned through reintroduction. The waters of the Hebrides and Shetland bring together orcas, white-beaked dolphins and basking sharks in summer.

The nature of United Kingdom

National animal: The lion is the emblem of England and the unicorn that of Scotland; the European robin was voted Britain's national bird

Did you know?

Bass Rock, a volcanic stack off the east coast of Scotland, holds one of the largest northern gannet colonies in the world, with on the order of 150,000 birds packed onto a few hectares. The link is so close that the species carries the name of the place in its scientific name, Morus bassanus, and the rock can be seen turning white from the shore.

Biodiversity profile

Europa Occidental (islas britanicas, mas 14 territorios de ultramar)Aprox. 28,7% del territorio continental britanico protegido, con 44,2% de aguas jurisdiccionales bajo areas marinas protegidas; en los territorios de ultramar la cifra terrestre baja a 7,3% pero la marina sube a 60%

Climate

•Oceanico templado (Cfb), lluvias distribuidas todo el año, veranos suaves e inviernos templados

Main biomes

•Bosque caducifolio templado (remanentes fragmentados)
•Brezal y turbera de montaña (Escocia, Gales)
•Pastizal de tiza y humedales costeros
•Páramo de brezo
•Bosque caledonio de pinos
•Acantilado marino
•Humedal costero
•Pradera calcárea
•Turbera de cobertura
•Estuario

Marine and coastal ecosystems

•Aguas del Mar del Norte, Atlantico y Canal de la Mancha, con acantilados de anidacion de aves marinas
•El 90% de la biodiversidad del Reino Unido en sentido amplio se encuentra en sus Territorios de Ultramar, incluidos puntos calientes globales en el Caribe, Malta y Chipre

Flagship wildlife

Notable endemic species

•Los Territorios de Ultramar britanicos concentran mas de 32.000 especies conjuntas, con al menos 517 globalmente amenazadas, y 33 especies de aves de la Lista Roja, mas que toda la Europa continental
•Ratón de campo de Saint Kilda
•Piquituerto escocés

Notable threatened species

•194 especies amenazadas conocidas en el Reino Unido continental (cifra que excluye 60.000 especies aun no catalogadas formalmente)
•Aves y especies de pastizal en declive por intensificacion agricola, que ocupa mas del 70% del territorio

Notable protected areas

•Parque Nacional de los Distritos de los Lagos (Patrimonio Mundial)
•Costa Jurasica (Patrimonio Mundial geologico)
•Reservas de aves marinas de las Islas Shetland y Orcadas
•Parque Nacional de Cairngorms
•Roca de Bass
•Islas Farne
•Reserva de Minsmere
•Parque Nacional de Snowdonia
•Archipiélago de Saint Kilda

Main conservation threats

•Perdida de habitat y contaminacion por intensificacion agricola (mas del 70% del uso del suelo)
•Especies invasoras
•Cambio climatico sobre ecosistemas costeros y de turbera

Notable natural phenomena

•El Reino Unido gestiona la quinta mayor extension oceanica del mundo a traves de sus territorios de ultramar, con areas marinas protegidas de gran escala en Pitcairn (Pacifico) y Ascension (Atlantico)

Conservation

The Scottish wildcat is in a critical situation because of hybridisation with domestic cats, and a reinforcement programme using captive-bred animals has begun. In parallel, the country leads large-scale rewilding projects such as Knepp.

Where and when to watch wildlife

Seabird colonies between May and July on the Farne Islands, Bass Rock and Skomer. The Cairngorms in September and October for the red deer rut. The Hebrides in summer for basking sharks and orcas.

Sources: BioDB.com - United Kingdom | Friends of the Earth - How well UK EU protecting nature

Temperate forest Mountain Grassland Freshwater

Natural phenomena in United Kingdom

Berrea (celo) del ciervo rojo en Escocia — Septiembre a noviembre (pico finales sep-oct)
Colonias de frailecillos en Escocia e Islandia — Abril a agosto (pico mayo-julio)
Murmuraciones de estorninos en el Reino Unido — Octubre a marzo (pico nov-ene)
Colonia de alcatraces atlánticos en Bass Rock — Finales de febrero a octubre (pico jun-ago)

Parks and reserves

World Heritage Site (Natural)

Calzada del Gigante

Forty thousand basalt columns on the Antrim coast, formed as lava flows cooled some sixty million years ago.

View park World Heritage Site (Natural)

Costa de Dorset y Devon Oriental

The Jurassic Coast: 185 million years of Earth history exposed along 155 kilometres of cliffs.

View park World Heritage Site (Natural)

Isla Henderson

A raised coral atoll in the Pacific, virtually untouched on land and with the highest density of plastic in the world on its beaches.

View park World Heritage Site (Natural)

Islas Gough e Inaccesible

Two of the least disturbed temperate islands on the planet, with one of the largest seabird colonies in the world.

View park National Park

Northumberland

Crossed by Hadrian's Wall, the northernmost fortified frontier of the Roman Empire

View park World Heritage Site (Mixed)

St Kilda

The United Kingdom's only mixed property: a volcanic archipelago uninhabited since 1930, with the largest seabird colony in Europe.

View park National Park

Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons)

It recovered its traditional Welsh name in 2023, leaving behind the colonial English name Brecon Beacons

View park National Park (protected landscape)

Cairngorms

Britain's largest national park; relict Caledonian forest

View park National Park

Dartmoor

Granite moorland studded with prehistoric stone circles, with more megalithic monuments than any other region in England

View park National Park

Exmoor

One of the few places in England with official Dark Sky Reserve status from the International Dark-Sky Association

View park

Diving and snorkelling

Wreck

Scapa Flow

A deep natural anchorage that was the base of the British Grand Fleet in both world wars. On 21 June 1919, Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter ordered the scuttling of the German High Seas Fleet interned there — 74 ships — wrongly convinced that the peace negotiations had broken down and that the British were about to seize the vessels. Some 50 ships went to the bottom within hours.

View dive site Cold rocky reef