Cornwall’s top attractions are bursting with opportunities to get up close with fascinating wildlife. Whether you’re a family seeking a fun day out or a nature lover eager to connect with the animal kingdom, Cornwall offers unforgettable encounters with creatures great and small.
From the colourful parrots and rare red pandas at Paradise Park, to rescued marine life at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary, and the captivating owls of Screech Owl Sanctuary, there’s something to inspire every wildlife enthusiast.
The Park is set in acres of established gardens, is home to a wonderful range of wildlife and, as home to Operation Chough and the World Parrot Trust, is a leader in conservation.
Wildlife lovers will enjoy a full day of events including impressive flying displays with great photo opportunities, plus close encounters include having a cockatoo fly to your hand and helping to feed the little parrots. With over 1,200 stunning birds including flamingos, macaws, a colony of penguins, Red-billed Cornish Choughs, Golden and Bald Eagles, plus rare Red Pandas, cute otters with teenage pups, Red Squirrels and tiny Harvest Mice.
The Fun Farm has adorable donkeys, guinea pigs and you can buy small bags of food (limited supply) to feed the little Pygmy goats and Ouessant sheep.
Colourful nectar-rich flowers attract butterflies, bees and hawkmoths to a special garden with information on hand to help you identify what you see. Frogs and dragonflies inhabit the pond areas while native birds spotted include swallows, swifts and woodpeckers. There are fabulous views over Hayle Estuary to St Ives Bay, so you may see ducks, geese, plus occasionally White Storks and Red Kites, flying over.
At the Screech Owl Sanctuary & Animal Park there are plenty of opportunities to do some nature spotting. Along side all our resident owls & other animals there is the chance to spot other wildlife including slow worms, field voles, swallows, and toads. We keep areas around the site deliberately wild with rough grass and wildflowers to help support our local wildlife. In the summer months as part of our daily activities we do a nature walk to introduce our visitors to these areas of our site.
Head to Padstow on the banks of the camel estuary for a day surrounded by wildlife, and a chance to visit The National Lobster Hatchery. Celebrating 25 years open to the public in 2025, this award winning hatchery gives ocean fans the opportunity to see local wildlife up close, and peak behind the scenes of a conservation project in action. For any budding marine biologists or animal fans this is the perfect place for a feel good day out, and right now the team are inundated with new arrivals welcoming around 5,000 baby lobsters each day! Open daily 10-4
Nestled on the picturesque Helford Estuary, the Cornish Seal Sanctuary offers one of Cornwall’s most rewarding wildlife experiences; with a mission that goes far beyond a day out.
As a working rescue centre and registered charity, the Sanctuary provides expert care for grey seal pups found sick, injured, or orphaned along the UK coastline. Each year the Sanctuary helps around 60 seal pups; giving them a second chance at life.
Each visit directly supports this life-saving work, helping to fund 24/7 care, veterinary treatment, and the long journey from rescue to release.
At certain points in the year, visitors can see rescued seal pups, hear their individual stories, and even watch them recover and learn to thrive again.
Beyond the seal pups, the Sanctuary is home to marine animals who, due to lifelong conditions and injuries, can’t return to the wild, offering a permanent, enriching home for 12 resident Seals and 11 Atlantic Puffins.
There’s also beautiful woodland walks, stunning estuary views, expert talks and feeds with the Sanctuary’s team and activities that will inspire all ages to care about ocean conservation.
The Sanctuary continues to support the Beaver Trust, providing a nursery for beaver kits and a larger 4-acre woodland area for beavers to find their feet in the wild before being relocated. Guests can take a relaxing stroll down to Secret Creek to witness the brilliant engineering work of the beavers.
Every ticket, every ice cream, every donation helps save real lives. So, when you visit the Cornish Seal Sanctuary, you’re not just meeting seals; you’re standing up for them. It’s a chance to make unforgettable memories while making a real difference to wildlife in Cornwall.
The Fal Estuary is home to an incredible diversity of wildlife including dolphins, porpoises, basking sharks and seals, plus numerous birds that stopover during migrations.
Experience these wonders up close aboard Fal River Ferries! Both Enterprise Boats and the St Mawes Ferry offer fantastic wildlife spotting opportunities with wildlife-friendly skippers who minimise disturbance.
You’ll regularly spot shags and cormorants perched on buoys with outstretched wings, grey herons and little egrets hunting along shores, and distinctive shelducks feeding on mudflats. Watch for oystercatchers with their striking black-and-white plumage and orange bills probing for shellfish. Lucky visitors might glimpse the electric-blue flash of a kingfisher or spot birds of prey – peregrine falcons, buzzards, sparrowhawks and kestrels – circling overhead.
Seasonally, Spring brings magnificent basking sharks cruising through these waters. Summer delivers colourful jellyfish blooms sometimes accompanied by rare leatherback turtles, while powerful Atlantic bluefin tuna arrive by late summer. Autumn is particularly special when Atlantic grey seals gather in increasing numbers for pupping season. Dolphins are frequently sighted in winter months and can be seen in all directions, performing acrobatics, surfing in the swell and bow-riding the ferries.
Grab your binoculars and join Fal River Ferries for an unforgettable wildlife adventure on the Fal!
Go wild on your next day out.
Discover places across Cornwall where you can get closer to wildlife, learn about conservation, and enjoy meaningful family adventures.
Explore Cornwall’s top wildlife attractions here
