Across the UK, a collection of natural marvels reveal themselves at this time of year, including some of the rarest and most spectacular phenomena that the country has to offer.

For many Brits, the winter months – particularly once Christmas and New Year have passed – are all about hunkering down at home and waiting for the freeze to thaw. Across the British Isles, though, a collection of natural marvels reveals itself at this time of year, including some of the rarest and most spectacular phenomena that the country has to offer.

From ghostly optical illusions to flocks of dancing birds, these British winter wonders are enough to encourage even the most ardent homebody to get their boots on, brush up on their photography skills and brave the big chill.

Animals changing their coats in the winter is a phenomenon often associated with polar species: the Arctic fox, Peary caribou and Canada's collared lemming, for instance. Less well known is that the British Isles have an animal of their own that dons a dashing white winter coat: the mountain hare.

Although it is now vanishingly rare, this is Britain's only native hare – the brown hare, much more common today, was introduced to Britain by the Romans. England's only population of mountain hares lives in the Peak District, where the animal was reintroduced in the 1800s. They can be spotted in their snow-white winter coats between November and April, bathing in the pale sunlight in areas of moorland and heather. One of their favoured haunts is Bleaklow, a mountain along the Pennine Way atmospherically scattered with the wreckage of World War Two aircraft.

The largest concentration of mountain hares in the UK, though, is in the Scottish Highlands, where the animals can be spotted on sheltered slopes covered in thin snow, beneath which they dig for food. Mountain hares can be found all over the region, but a popular spot is the Monadhliath Mountains, southeast of Loch Ness. While you're there, look out for the mountain hare's avian equivalent: the ptarmigan. This plump, grouse-like animal is the only British bird that turns white in winter, and the UK's only population also lives in the Scottish Highlands.

Scotland is also one of the best places in the UK to spot another mountain phenomenon: the eerie Brocken spectre. Many a hillwalker has paused on a mountain trail and turned to admire a cloud-scattered view, only to be confronted with a huge, looming shadow figure, often with rainbow-coloured glory rings emanating from its head.

This creepy optical illusion is actually the walker's own shadow, magnified to enormous proportions. It appears when the Sun rises on one side of the walker and casts their shadow onto a blanket of cloud on the other side. As such, it is especially common during cloud inversions, when clouds gather in valleys below mountaintops, giving the impression of a soft white ocean. A light wind completes the spooky effect, making the spectre move as if it has a life of its........

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