We’ve been named the Best Location in the UK to see Glow Worms! Exmouth has been named as the best place in the UK to spot glow worms.
Away Resorts, operator of a New Forest holiday park, researched the best coastal locations to spot rare wildlife in the UK and revealed that Bystock Pools in Exmouth is the top spot to see glow worms.
This claim comes after an Away Resorts survey found that 84% of British people want to see more wildlife on their next break. This prompted the holiday park operator to create an animation which lists the top ten UK sites where it’s possible to spot rare coastal wildlife.
Not a lot of people know that glow worms exist in the UK and this is because people don’t really know where to find them. To give yourself the best chance of spotting glow worms, visit Bystock Pools during late spring and summer, particularly June and July, when activity peaks. However, glow worms have also been seen from May through to October.
Requiring a specialist habitat, glow worms are mostly seen in wildflower meadows and tend to thrive on untouched land. Contrary to the mating rituals of the majority of the animal kingdom, it’s actually the female glow worms who put on this impressive display to attract the males. Females are flightless and they crawl up long grass producing a greenish light to attract males.
The Wildlife Trusts notes that in Bystock Pools, “the number of lights can approach 100 in the reserve’s grassland.”
The spectacle is best viewed when it’s a crescent moon (i.e. very early or very late in the moon’s phase) without a torch, so try to let your eyes adjust to the dark without using any artificial lighting sources.
The UK Glow Worm Survey website states that “If you do see glow worms, don’t disturb them and certainly don’t take them home as trophies, no matter how many there are on a site.”
If you would like to know the other nine locations named as the best places to spot rare coastal wildlife (and what that wildlife is), take a look at Away Resorts’ animation below: