Between the Trees in South Wales
Between the Trees, winner of the UK’s best micro-festival 2025, returns to Candleston Woods with the spectacular Merthyr Mawr national nature Reserve (between Cardiff to Swansea). The programme includes science and nature activities as well as folk music and storytelling. Workshops in the Eco Hub include micrographia sessions – exploring the world of insects on the reserve – and nature crafts. Seren has a number of new talks, walks and stories to offer. Welsh witches and forage-and-taste outings. The site will astonish you with its camping spots right next to the wild beach, and massive dunes.
27-30 August, weekend tickets £195 adults, £50 children, betweenthetrees.co.uk
Secret Wildlife festival, East Sussex
Secret Campsite in Barcombe is located on peaceful rewilded field between a 75-acre woodland and a quiet country road. It’s a hive of life, with everything from slow worms to nightingales. Michael Blencowe (also known as the Sussex Naturalist) will be delivering non-stop nature activity to around 90 campers during the Secret Wildlife Festival. Hands-on activities will include moth-trapping, hedgehog tunnel building, and glow-worm safaris. These activities are in addition to the drop-in bushcraft sessions, guided dawn-to-dusk walks, and communal barbecue. Seven Sisters Astronomy Group, which will be on hand to help campers explore space each evening, and a Secret Cinema showing of the camera traps at the campsite, will close out the event.
26-28th June, weekend tickets including camping and all activities from £112 adults, £56 children, thesecretcampsite.co.uk
Isle of Wight Biosphere Fest
The Isle of Wight Biosphere is an annual festival that spans across the island. It showcases the many species and landscapes of a Unesco protected area, including beaches, wetlands, chalk downland, and woodland. The festival includes events such as a freediving expedition in the seagrass meadows of Seaview with marine photographer Theo Vickers and open days at Permaculture Island Firestone Copse offers a UV night hike exploring forest biofluorescence (as featured in Ben Fogle’s New Lives in the Wild). Red Funnel offers discounted ferries from mainland England (£14, adults on foot) to celebrate the week.
27 June–5 July, Mix of free and paid events, iwbiosphere.org
North Pennines NatureFest, County Durham
North Pennines NatureFest coincides with European Geoparks Week and promises an exciting programme of interactive and informative events in the North Pennines National Landscape and Unesco Global Geopark. Adder exhibit at Bowlees Visitor Centre will demonstrate the region’s dedication to this venerable indigenous species. All ages are invited to join ecologists in an educational session. bioblitz Housty Farm is hosting a “wildlife-recording frenzy”. Families are invited during the middle weekend to an nature camp Low Way Farm, Teesdale offers a variety of activities ranging from bat detection to bird song walks.
23 May-7 June, Prices for individual events Nature Camp from £30 adults, £20 children, northpennines.org.uk
Nuts About Natural Norfolk
Nuts About Nature, at Kelling Heath’s holiday park near Holt, will be led by nature experts who are local to the area. The park is home to a 120-hectare woodland and a 300-acre open heathland that is nationally rare. The unveiling of the new red squirrel enclosure at the park will coincide with a weekend-long “acorn adventure” where guests can take part in activities such as pond-dipping and nature crafts. The countryside team of the park will be available to answer any questions regarding the red squirrel population in the park, conservation efforts and the newly refurbished and expanded enclosure.
The week of June 5-7, tent pitches from £39.50 per night and 3-for-2 nights offer with code NUTSABOUTNATURE26; kellingheath.co.uk
Urban Wild Southampton
Run by the Southampton National Park City Urban Wild, a Youth for Climate and Nature initiative, will use community events to explore Reimagining Southampton. Urban Wild on Southampton Common will be the opening event of the festival, which is designed to bring people close to the city’s green and blue space while imagining an eco-friendly future. The festival includes stalls, live music, and family activities. The community-run groups will also organise group bike tours, creative workshops and wildlife identification sessions.
23-31st May, free, southamptonnpc.com
Orkney Nature Festival
This festival is organised by a local committee. It will allow visitors to experience Orkney’s unique wildlife – from Risso’s dolphins to the puffins. Guided walks are offered on Hoy and Birsay to observe seabird colonies clinging cliffs. RSPB Wardens also offer guide-in-ahide sessions for an up-close view. Other activities include snorkeling safaris. Kraken DivingExplore 5,000 years of human and natural history at Skara BraeNature-inspired and. pottery sessions Robin Palmer is a great example.
11-17 MayIndividually priced events orkneynaturefestival.co.uk
Cornwall celebrates the Solstice festival
Nature the Artist – an initiative recognising nature as a recording artist and using royalties to fund conservation work – will take over Trematon Castle estate over the solstice weekend for the first time this year. Live music, immersive art installations and talks will take place on the estate overlooking the Tamar Estuary. The group, Female Group, will also be leading the fire ceremonies. Boss MorrisAlexis Taylor (6 Music DJ) and Deb Grant (7 Music DJ). There will be plenty of opportunities to immerse yourself in nature, including guided botanical walks, foraging sessions and participatory workshops focusing on ecology and seasonal changes. The festival will donate 100 percent of its profits. EarthPercentThe nature restoration efforts of.
19–22 JuneFrom £260 Weekend tickets are available. Only adults, gardenoftomorrow.org.uk
Goren festival, Devon
Goren Festival is a weekend-long family celebration of nature and music, spread across the meadows full of wildflowers and orchards at Goren Farm in Honiton. All weekend, pop-up stages are set up to fill the farm. Workshops, open mics and fireside sessions will allow everyone to be involved in the creative arts. Nature trails, bat walks and wildlife stands, as well as a forest-school, will be available to inspire and delight young visitors.
3-5 July, weekend tickets from £44 adults, £29 children, camping pitch £18, gorenfestival.co.uk
Festival of Nature Bristol
Bristol Natural History ConsortiumThe Festival of Nature is a free event series that takes place in Bristol, Bath and online. It aims to encourage public participation for nature and climate change through events. As the UK’s biggest free nature festival, there are hundreds of events on offer. These include guided wildlife walks and river and coast surveys, citizen-science projects, seed-planting, pollinator tracking, and hands-on activities. The highlights of this year include insect identification walks with Bath City FarmOnline poetry workshops, dementia friendly allotment sessions and a bioblitz species counting at Stoke Park are just some of the activities that you can enjoy.
6–14 June, free, bnhc.org.uk
