Nature Spotting at Stonehenge
Stonehenge stands in a large area of chalk downland which is an important habitat for animals, plants and birds.
During your visit, see which of these species you can identify. Some are common and easier to spot whereas others are rare and/or can only be seen at certain times of year.
Crows and other corvids
It’s easy to see members of the corvid family at Stonehenge but can you tell them apart? There are eight different species of corvid in the UK and four are quite common here: Carrion Crows, Rooks, Jackdaws and Magpies can all be seen at Stonehenge. Here’s how to tell them apart:
Carrion crows – black and glossy with a blunt, black beak.
Rooks – black plumage and a pointy beak which has a distinctive grey patch at the base.
Jackdaws – Smaller than crows and rooks, they have pale eyes and a grey hood at the back of the head.
Magpies – Black and white plumage, with a purple-blue sheen on their wings and tail feathers.
Great Bustard
These large birds became extinct in the UK in the 1830s due to habitat loss and hunting. A programme by the Great Bustard Group has successfully reintroduced these beautiful creatures to Wiltshire, including one particularly popular bird known as Gertie, who visits Stonehenge every April.
Goldfinch
The goldfinch is a small, colourful bird with a bright red face and yellow wing patch. It's a very sociable bird and can often be seen in Spring in groups (a charm) near the fence or trees close to where the shuttle bus drops you off.
Sparrows and starlings
House sparrows have lived alongside humans for centuries, taking advantage of the food scraps we leave behind. You can see plenty at the visitor centre, especially around the café picnic tables. Noisy and sociable they are small and brown with black markings and in breeding season can be found nesting in the thatch of the Neolithic houses.
Noisy groups of starlings can also be seen at Stonehenge. They are larger than sparrows and have black plumage which is speckled with white. If you’re lucky you may see large groups of starlings in the colder months engaging in a murmuration, one of nature’s highlights.
Skylark
You’re more likely to hear the skylark rather than see it. The male sings from heights of 50 to 100 metres, so look up and you may just see a dot in the sky which is producing a beautiful, unbroken warble several minutes long.
Birds of Prey
Birds of prey including kites, owls, kestrels and buzzards can be seen at Stonehenge. At the Visitor Centre look up above the meadow and you may see one of these stunning birds hoovering above, looking for its next meal.
Brown Hare
Larger than a rabbit, hares with their long, black-tipped ears can be spotted bounding across the fields that surround Stonehenge. They are most visible in Spring, which is breeding season.
Butterflies
The chalk download is habitat to some of the UK’s most endangered butterflies. Look out for the Adonis Blue, the male has brilliant sky blue wings, with a fine black line round the edge and a white margin. The female is chocolate brown with orange spots, bordered by blue scales, around the edge of the hind wing. The Duke of Burgundy is another chalk loving butterfly, which is listed on the GB Red List of species at threat from extinction. It is brown with a yellow checkered pattern and the males can be seen engaging in an aerial ‘dog-fight’ to defend territory.
Chalk-loving plants
At first glance, it may look like Stonehenge is surrounded by grass, but look closer and there are actually many different varieties of plant thriving in the chalk landscape. Horseshoe vetch, which flowers between May and July, produces bright yellow, pea-like flowers. Small scabious produces a pretty purple flower which is attractive to bees and butterflies and flowers between June and October
Lichen
There are many types of lichens growing on the surface of the stones at Stonehenge. The most noticeable is Ramalina siliquosa or Sea Ivory, a shrubby lichen, which is a symbiosis between algae and fungi. Visible from the path around the monument, it looks like the stones have developed a hairy coat. You’ll notice that these lichens only grow at the top of the stones, and that’s because they’ve died back where the stones have been touched by people over the years. If you’re on a Stone Circle Experience visit, we will ask you not to touch the stones, and that is why.
Grazing animals
The land around Stonehenge is grazed by herds of cows and flocks of sheep, which is an important part of managing the chalk grassland. By the time Stonehenge was built, Neolithic people had been farming for over 1,000 years, so they were expert at raising domestic animals for meat and milk, which seem to have been the most important elements of their diet and economy.
Sheep and cows probably looked rather different than they do now. The sheep weren’t woolly - they would have been more hairy, like a goat and the cows would have been smaller, perhaps a bit like Dexters (domestic), or huge, like aurochsen (native).
How to protect wildlife at Stonehenge
We hope you have enjoyed looking at the beautiful wildlife in the Stonehenge landscape. Please don’t pick, touch or disturb the animals and plants you’ve seen. Leaving them alone and observing them from a distance is the best way to help ensure their future survival.
Please keep dogs on a short lead.
You can find out more about the landscape around Stonehenge which is managed by the National Trust here https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/wiltshire/stonehenge-landscape