Nature Notes August 2019

Date Published: 01-09-2019

A wet and windy start to the month followed by a period of hot days and nights in complete contrast.

SIGHTINGS
Birds (seen or heard): Carrion Crows, Magpies, Jays, Buzzards, Sparrowhawk, Green/Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Wood Pigeons, Stock Doves, Collared Doves, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Blackbirds, Robins, Song Thrushes, Dunnocks, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Bullfinches, Goldfinches, Siskins, Stonechats, Coal/Blue/Great/Long-tailed Tits.
Mammals: Grey Squirrels, Fox, Roe Deer, Pipistrelle Bats, Badgers, Hedgehogs, Wood Mice, Mole activity.
Insects/Spiders: Wood Lice, Ladybirds, Centipedes, Midges, Bumble Bees, Hover Flies, Solitary Bees, Wasps, Ant species, Orb-web Spiders, Sheet-web Spiders, Grasshoppers.
Reptiles/Amphibians: Common Lizard, Grass Snake.
Butterflies/Moths: Speckled Wood, Large White, Small White, Painted Lady, Comma, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Brimstone, Holly Blue, Silver-studded-Blues, Small Heath, Species of day flying Moth.
Plants in flower/Berries: Herb Robert, Tormentil, Geranium, Ling, Bell Heather, Honeysuckle, Blackberry, Rowan Tree. Crocosmia and Shrimp Plant Shrub (Garden escapees), Sundews, Marsh Gentians, White Pond Lily.
Dragonfly/Damselfly: Small Red, Small Blue, Common Darter, Southern Hawker, Broad Bodied Chaser.
Pond Life: Whirlygig Beetles, Pond Skaters, Backswimmers, Great Diving Beetle.
A poor show of Blackberry fruits for the end of Summer.
Several locations on the central heathland have had rare Marsh Gentians.

NATURE FACT
Marsh Gentians are a lowland species that grows in moist heaths and bogs. It is one of the loveliest native Gentians but sadly it is becoming increasingly rare. Like many British Gentians, this species is late to flower, being in bloom from August to September. The flowers are sky blue with pale dots on the inside of the petals and broad greenish-coloured, almost translucent, stripes running down the outside. The stripes are thought to help guide bees to the centre of the flower.
SITE MANAGEMENT
The work party concentrated it’s efforts on completing the livestock corral and replacing rotten handrails on the boardwalk.