Animals in United Kingdom
Lion
Panthera leo
The lion has represented the United Kingdom for nearly a thousand years without living on its shores in historic times. Its link with English royalty dates to the twelfth century, when three lions appeared on the royal arms of Richard I, known as the Lionheart, and it has been part of heraldry, coins, flags and sporting emblems ever since. Three lions appear on the England football and cricket shirts, and a red lion rampant stands on the royal standard of Scotland. Although it has no connection to modern British nature, the lion remains the best known emblem of the nation around the world.
View details→Wildlife in United Kingdom
The United Kingdom covers an extraordinary range of landscapes for a relatively small country, from the mountains of the Scottish Highlands and the sea cliffs of the islands to the chalk downs of southern England, the old oakwoods of Wales and the bogs and lakes of Northern Ireland. Red deer, the largest land animals in the country, roam the Highlands, and red squirrels and martens survive in the pine forests of Scotland. Red foxes, badgers, hares, hedgehogs and roe deer are found across all four nations, while wild boars have returned to the Forest of Dean. The birds are the pride of British wildlife. Golden eagles nest in the Highlands, white tailed eagles are back after reintroduction, and peregrine falcons now breed on cathedrals and tower blocks. Cranes and white storks are breeding again after centuries, and barn owls hunt over fields at dusk. The seas are among the richest in Europe, with large seal colonies, puffin cliffs, dolphins and visiting humpback whales and orcas.
Most Dangerous Animals in United Kingdom
The United Kingdom is one of the safest countries in Europe for wildlife encounters, with no large predators and only one venomous snake. The European adder lives on heaths, moors and woodland edges, and it bites only when stepped on or handled. Its bite is painful and needs hospital care, but only 14 deaths have been recorded since 1876, the last in 1975. Wild boars have reestablished in the Forest of Dean and a few other areas, and they can be dangerous if surprised with their young or when dogs run at them. Red deer stags can be aggressive during the autumn rut, so it is best to keep well away. Seals may bite if people get too close on beaches, and orcas and dolphins pose no real danger. Strong tides, cold water and Atlantic swells are a greater risk than any animal for visitors exploring the coast.
Top 10 Animals in United Kingdom
The top 10 animals in the United Kingdom are a mix of sea giants, woodland favourites and birds that have made a comeback. Orcas are the most famous, and a tiny group known as the West Coast Community still lives off western Scotland, while more orcas visit Shetland and Orkney every summer. The red deer is the largest land mammal in the country, and in autumn the roaring stags of the Highlands and of Richmond Park in London draw crowds. Bottlenose dolphins live in the Moray Firth, where they can be watched from the shore at Chanonry Point, and in Cardigan Bay, in Wales. The hedgehog, voted the favourite British animal, has declined sharply and is now listed as vulnerable in Britain. The adder is the only venomous snake. Among the birds, the white tailed eagle is the largest bird of prey, puffins nest on cliffs from Skomer to Shetland, and white storks bred at Knepp in Sussex in 2020 for the first time in 600 years. The peregrine falcon and the mute swan, a bird traditionally owned by the Crown, complete the list.
Badger
Meles meles
The European badger is common across England, Wales and Scotland, with an estimated 391,000 to 581,000 in England and Wales, in woodland, farmland and even suburban gardens. Some setts are centuries old, and badgers are protected by the Protection of Badgers Act 1992. England's culling for bovine TB, which began in 2013, ended in January 2026 in favor of vaccination. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Hare
Lepus europaeus
The brown hare probably arrived in Britain with people around Roman times and is now widespread in lowland England and eastern Scotland, on arable farms and grassland. Its spring boxing gave rise to the phrase mad as a March hare. Numbers dropped sharply in the twentieth century, and it is a priority species for conservation. In Northern Ireland, introduced brown hares can interbreed with the native Irish hare. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Hedgehog
Erinaceus europaeus
The hedgehog is one of Britain's best loved wild mammals, found in gardens, parks, hedgerows and farmland across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. A 2022 report estimated that rural hedgehogs fell by 30 to 75 percent since 2000, while town populations seem stable, and Britain's mammal Red List classes it as Vulnerable. The Hedgehog Street campaign has thousands of volunteers linking gardens. IUCN status: Near Threatened.
Marten
Martes martes / Martes foina
In the United Kingdom the only marten is the pine marten. By the 1900s it survived mainly in the Scottish Highlands, still its stronghold, but it is spreading south again, and it has been brought back to mid Wales (2015 to 2017), the Forest of Dean (from 2019), Dartmoor (2024) and Exmoor (2025). It is fully protected, and Scottish hides that put out food at dusk give the best chance of seeing one. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Red Deer
Cervus elaphus
The red deer is the largest native land mammal in the United Kingdom. Scotland holds about 500,000, mostly on the open hills of the Highlands and islands, while England has around 12,500, mainly on Exmoor and in the Lake District, and Wales only a few hundred. With no wolves left, large herds stop native woodland from regrowing, so culling to manage their numbers is a major debate in Scotland. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Red Fox
Vulpes vulpes
The red fox is one of Britain's best known wild mammals, found from the Scottish Highlands to Cornwall and Northern Ireland. Urban foxes have lived in British cities since the 1930s and now raid bins and raise cubs under sheds in London, Bristol and many other towns. Hunting foxes with dogs was banned in Scotland in 2002 and in England and Wales in 2005, though it remains legal in Northern Ireland. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Red Squirrel
Sciurus vulgaris
In the United Kingdom, the red squirrel has been pushed out of most of England and Wales by the gray squirrel, introduced from North America from the 1870s. About 287,000 remain, most of them in Scotland, with English strongholds in Northumberland, Cumbria, Formby, the Isle of Wight and Brownsea Island, and a recovered population on Anglesey. It is protected by law. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Roe Deer
Capreolus capreolus
The roe deer is native to the United Kingdom and is one of its most widespread deer. Overhunting and forest clearance wiped it out in England by around 1800, leaving it only in Scottish woods, but Victorian reintroductions and natural spread from Scotland brought it back. Today it is common across Scotland, England and Wales, in woodland edges, conifer plantations and mixed farmland. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Wild Boar
Sus scrofa
Wild boars were hunted out of Britain by about the thirteenth century, but farm escapes since the 1980s have brought them back. Free living populations now exist in the Forest of Dean, Kent and East Sussex, Dorset, Devon and parts of Scotland, where they are often called feral pigs. The Forest of Dean group is the best known and has grown, prompting debate over how to manage it. IUCN status: Least Concern.
European Adder
Vipera berus
The adder is the only venomous snake native to Britain, found in England, Wales and Scotland but not in Northern Ireland. It is most widespread in Scotland and on the heaths and moors of southern England and Wales, such as Dorset and the New Forest. It has declined sharply at many sites, and is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Only 14 deaths were recorded from 1876 to 2005. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Barn Owl
Tyto alba
The barn owl is found across England, Wales and parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland, nesting in old farm buildings, hollow trees and church towers in open farmland, rough grassland and river valleys. It is one of the most studied birds in Britain and a key indicator of farmland health, as its numbers are closely tied to the availability of voles and mice. Populations fluctuate with rodent cycles and harsh winters can cause significant mortality. Nest box programs run by farmers and wildlife trusts have helped support the species across much of lowland Britain.
White tailed Eagle
Haliaeetus albicilla
The white tailed eagle has made a triumphant return to the United Kingdom after the last native pair vanished in 1916. Releases began on Rùm in Scotland in 1975, and by 2022 there were at least 134 pairs, with Mull and Skye among the best places to see them. Birds released on the Isle of Wight since 2019 now range across southern England. It is the largest bird of prey in the country. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Crane
Grus grus
After some 400 years without breeding cranes, the United Kingdom has its population back. A wild pair settled in the Norfolk Broads in 1979 and raised a chick in 1982, and since then cranes have spread to the Fens and other wetlands, helped by the Great Crane Project, which reintroduced birds to Somerset. By 2023 at least 80 pairs were counted, the highest number in centuries. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Puffin
Fratercula arctica
The United Kingdom holds some of the most important puffin colonies in the world, found on islands such as the Farne Islands, Skomer Island, and the Isle of May, as well as sites in Orkney and Shetland. The RSPB and other conservation groups monitor these populations closely. While some UK colonies have remained relatively stable, others have declined. Overfishing of sand eels and warming seas remain the main threats to breeding success across the country.
White Wagtail
Motacilla alba
In the UK the white wagtail is best known as the pied wagtail, the black backed subspecies of Britain and Ireland, a common resident of rivers, farms, parking lots and rooftops all year. Grey backed continental white wagtails pass through in spring and autumn, often on coasts. In winter pied wagtails gather in large town roosts, one famous example being at Heathrow Airport. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Peregrine Falcon
Falco peregrinus
The peregrine falcon is one of Britain's great conservation success stories. Populations crashed in the twentieth century due to DDT and deliberate persecution, but the species has recovered strongly and now breeds across upland moors, sea cliffs in Scotland, Wales, and England, and even on cathedral towers and city buildings. London, Exeter, and Bristol all have nesting pairs. Today the UK holds one of the largest peregrine populations in Europe. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Mute Swan
Cygnus olor
The mute swan is one of Britain's most beloved waterbirds, found on rivers, lakes, gravel pits and estuaries across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with about 22,000 birds counted in 2006. The Crown still claims unmarked swans on parts of the River Thames, where Swan Upping counts the cygnets each July. Lead fishing weights once caused a steep decline, reversed after they were banned in 1987. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Nightingale
Luscinia megarhynchos
In the United Kingdom, the nightingale is a bird of southeast England, found mainly in coppiced woodland, dense scrub and thickets. Numbers fell by about 90 percent between 1967 and 2022, mostly because the dense undergrowth it needs for nesting disappeared. Kent, Sussex, Essex and Suffolk remain its strongholds. Despite its famous song, most people in Britain have never heard one in the wild. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Golden Eagle
Aquila chrysaetos
In the United Kingdom, the golden eagle is a bird of Scotland, where the 2015 survey found 508 pairs in the Highlands and the western islands such as Skye, Mull and the Outer Hebrides. England's last resident bird, in the Lake District, disappeared in 2015. Since 2018, young eagles have been moved to the south of Scotland to rebuild the population there. Pairs keep the same territory for years and often have several nests. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Eurasian Magpie
Pica pica
In the United Kingdom, the Eurasian magpie is one of the most recognizable garden and parkland birds, with about 610,000 territories, found across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and most of Scotland except the far north. Its population roughly doubled from the late 1960s and then leveled off. It is famous in British folklore through the rhyme "one for sorrow, two for joy". IUCN status: Least Concern.
Humpback Whale
Megaptera novaeangliae
Humpbacks are seen in UK waters every year, and more often than a few decades ago. They turn up around Shetland and the Hebrides, in the Firth of Forth near Edinburgh, where some have stayed through recent winters, and off Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in autumn and winter. Some of these whales have been matched by their tail patterns to breeding grounds in the Caribbean, a sign of the recovery of the North Atlantic population. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Orca
Orcinus orca
The UK sees orcas every year, mostly around Shetland and Orkney, where groups from Iceland and Norway arrive in late spring and summer to hunt seals along the coast and can be watched from cliffs. Scotland also had its own resident group, the West Coast Community, but it has produced no calves in about thirty years, and since 2016 only two males, John Coe and Aquarius, have been seen, mostly around the Hebrides. Pollution is thought to be the cause. IUCN status: Data Deficient.
Bottlenose Dolphin
Tursiops truncatus
The United Kingdom has some of the largest bottlenose dolphins in the world, adapted to cold water. About 200 live off the east coast of Scotland and are famous for being seen from the shore at Chanonry Point, in the Moray Firth. Another well known group of a few hundred lives in Cardigan Bay, in Wales, and a small group travels along the coasts of Cornwall and Devon. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Harbor Seal
Phoca vitulina
The United Kingdom holds about 40 percent of Europe's harbor seals, most of them in Scotland, and in England the largest colony is in The Wash. The picture is mixed: on the west coast and in the Hebrides numbers are stable, but Orkney has lost around 85 percent of its harbor seals since 1997 and the Firth of Tay about as many, while Shetland and the Moray Firth also fell. The causes are still being studied. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Common Dolphin
Delphinus delphis
Common dolphins are among the most common cetaceans around the United Kingdom, especially in the southwest. Off Cornwall and Pembrokeshire boat trips see them most of the year, often in groups of dozens to hundreds, and in winter large numbers gather off Cornwall. They are also seen off the west of Scotland and the Hebrides in summer. Bycatch in fishing nets is the main threat in British waters. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Frequently Asked Questions
What animals live in the United Kingdom?
The United Kingdom is home to red deer, roe deer, red foxes, badgers, hedgehogs, hares, red squirrels, martens and wild boars. Its birds include golden eagles, white tailed eagles, peregrine falcons, barn owls, puffins, cranes, white storks, mute swans, magpies, nightingales and white wagtails. The adder is the only venomous snake. Around the coasts live seals, bottlenose and common dolphins, and visiting humpback whales and orcas. There are no large wild predators left in the country.
What is the national animal of the United Kingdom?
The lion is the national animal of the United Kingdom and of England, even though wild lions have not lived there in historic times. It has been a royal symbol since Richard the Lionheart in the twelfth century. Each nation also has its own animal: Scotland has the unicorn, a creature of legend, and Wales has the red dragon. Among real wild animals, the red deer is the largest land mammal in the country and the hedgehog is often voted the favourite.
What birds of prey live in the UK?
The largest bird of prey in the UK is the white tailed eagle, with wings over two meters wide. It died out in the early twentieth century and returned through reintroductions on the island of Rum from 1975 and on the Isle of Wight from 2019. The golden eagle nests in the Scottish Highlands, and the peregrine falcon, the fastest animal on Earth, now breeds on cliffs and on city buildings. The barn owl hunts over farmland and field edges at dusk, flying almost without sound.
Are there snakes in the UK?
Yes. Great Britain has three native snakes, and only one of them, the adder, is venomous. The adder has a dark zigzag along its back and lives on heaths, moors, dunes and woodland edges, where it basks in the sun in spring. It is shy and bites only when stepped on or picked up. A bite needs hospital care, but only 14 deaths have been recorded since 1876, the last in 1975. The adder is protected by law, and Ireland has no native snakes at all.
Are there wolves or lynx in the UK?
No, there are no wild wolves or lynx living in the UK today. Wolves disappeared from England in the Middle Ages, and the last wolf in Scotland is said to have been killed in 1680, although legends place it later. The lynx vanished much earlier, probably more than a thousand years ago. There are debates about bringing the lynx back to Scotland or Northumberland, but no official release has taken place. Today the largest wild predators in Britain are the red fox and the badger.
Researched and written by Juan Pablo. Sources: IUCN Red List, scientific literature and regional field guides. Last updated: .