Go wild in Moscow’s parks (5,838)

Moscow has an extraordinary diversity of habitats, even within the city itself. The many parks and forests that interrupt the high-rise suburbs are teeming with birds and animals. Here are some the most interesting wildlife encounters you can have within the city limits - plus a couple just outside it.

Elk and other large mammals

The prime location for creatures like elk, wild boar and roe deer is Losiny Ostrov. This huge tract of forest to the north-east of the city was used by the tsars for hunting from the time of Ivan the Terrible. It became Russia's first national park in 1983. The name actually means "Elk Island" (or "moose island" - the huge deer known as moose in America are confusingly called elk in Europe). Whatever you call them, these gentle giants of the forest are spectacular. Your best chance of spotting them is in winter when the bare trees increase visibility and the scarcity of food forces them into more accessible parts of the park, but they have been seen all over Losiny Ostrov in all seasons. The droppings are characteristically round or oval pellets and the slim, split-hoofed footprints are easy to recognise in mud or snow. They have been known to wander into the Sokolniki area of town and you can even spot them from a car on the MKAD if you keep your eyes open.

Wild boar are more secretive. The chief marks of their presence are truffled-up verges and signs of rootling in the soft earth. According to the National Park Authority, there are more than 40 other mammals in Losiny Ostrov, including foxes, Arctic hares and beavers. The beavers live in the area near Mytischi, beyond the MKAD, known as the Yauza marsh complex. More accessible, but less authentic, are the coypu at Serebryany Bor who have been introduced to the wetland nature reserve there. These large furry rodents, also called "marsh beavers" can be seen hopping wild on the grassy banks of Bezdonnoye Ozero, or "Bottomless Lake".

Squirrels and other small mammals

The animal you are most likely to encounter in a Moscow park (apart from a stray dog) is the red squirrel. These small perennial favourites, with their adorably tufted ears and skipping motion, are at home in all the wooded areas of the city. Having been almost driven out of Britain by the larger grey squirrels from North America, they are a particularly welcome sight for British visitors. The red squirrels can look greyish especially in winter, but the ear tufts give them away. You can see them easily in any park, but you are sure to see them in Tsaritsyno among the trees near Orekhovo metro station. The ban on dogs and bikes has resulted in this area becoming a squirrel-watcher's paradise. Other spots for squirrel-spotting include Kuzminki, Izmailovsky and Pokrovsko-Streshnevo parks. Most parks also have their fair share of wood mice, shrews, voles, moles, stoats, weasels and hedgehogs. The hedgehogs, being nocturnal, are not easy to find in the daytime, but you are quite likely to see mice or slim stoats running across the path. Izmailovsky Park is a good place for this. Small rodents often scurry across the tarmac between patches of dense undergrowth.

Amphibians and reptiles

The Moscow Society of Naturalists has identified seven different species of amphibians living in the city. Around half the ponds and waterways tested had amphibians in them, but only six had more than one species in the same body of water. The marsh frog is the undisputed lord of the river. One of the best places to encounter Moscow's frogs is the Setun River Valley. If you visit the ponds and marshy areas in the middle of the meandering loop of the river down the slope from the Mosfilm studios in spring, you can hear what sounds like a noisy argument half a mile downstream. The mating cacophony quickly fades when visitors approach as the frogs dive into the water. For a face-to-face encounter, head out of town to Arkhangelskoye in May. The lake at the far end of the beautiful estate is actually part of the former course of the Moscow River. It is now home to some unusually tame marsh frogs, who can usually be seen and heard in the water near the path, blowing out their bizarre vocal sacs. In Losiny Ostrov, you can also see grass snakes and small lizards.

Birds

Moscow State University's Bird Atlas meticulously catalogues the distribution of the 273 species, that have been observed in the Moscow region. The authors refer to the city's parks as "islands of nature" and ornithologists have certainly been surprised by how many birds choose to live here. Long-eared owls are one of the species you might stumble across, in places such as Troparyovsky Park to the south, where a special owl conservation project is underway, and in the Academy of Sciences' Botanical Gardens, just north of VDNKh. There are twice-yearly surveys of water birds, which are particularly plentiful around the island of Serebryany Bor. To catch the migrating grey cranes, you need to visit the marshy areas of Losiny Ostrov, where the shy bittern has also been spotted.

Far easier to see, the Ruddy Shelducks, who originated in the Moscow Zoo, spread out across the ponds of north-west Moscow and return to the zoo in winter. You can even see a couple of these striking orange ducks living in the little floating house on Patriarch's Ponds.

Woodpeckers are another exciting but relatively easy bird to spot. Places such as the Timiryazevsky Woods, north of Aeroport, are full of them.

Every spring, the Russian Bird Conservation Union organises a special count of the singing thrush nightingales whose fluid music fills the forests in May. Sparrow Hills is a good place to hear them. For more adventurous bird-watching trips, check out the suggestions on www.birdsmoscow.net.ru/eng, which tells you where you might see great grey shrike or white-tailed sea eagles.

Moscow's "Red Book"

The Darwin Museum keeps records online of the threatened and endangered species, the so-called "Red Book". The most worrying sign is when species that were abundant previously start to enter its pages. The amphibian study found that frogs tended to avoid the (increasingly common) concrete banks of ponds and rivers. The numbers of black-headed gulls in the city has declined dramatically over the last year, according to the zoological museum's records, "because of intense construction". Lake Kievo, just north of Moscow near Lobnya, previously hosted Europe's largest colony of river gulls, with up to 20,000 birds gathering there annually. These days, there is barely a bird to be seen much of the time. The good news is that there is an increasing interest in and concern for the natural world, which may help to reverse these trends. The number of ornithologists taking part in Moscow State University's annual surveys has risen steadily and the pleasure of observing birds and animals in the city is open to all. Bird Atlas editor Mikhail Kalyakin comments, "They are close, they are visible, but their lives still contain many secrets".  ■