The best places to spot UK wildlife in winter

Animal encounters are memorable in cold weather and low light. We pick the best spots – plus virtual alternatives for lockdown

One deep midwinter evening by the River Ouse, I sat down on a fallen tree trunk and watched the moonlight sparkle on the icy grass. I was trying to remember a poem:

The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold
The hare limp’d trembling through the frozen grass
And silent was the flock in woolly fold