Nature Notes August 2024
Date Published: 31-08-2024
The weather during August was mixed, with rain and strong winds of Storm Lilian over the Bank Holiday weekend.
SIGHTINGS
Birds (seen or heard): Carrion Crows, Magpies, Sparrowhawk, Buzzards, Black-headed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Tawny Owls, Sparrowhawks, Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Wood Pigeons, Nuthatches, Siskins, Stonechats, Goldcrests, Chiffchaffs, Wrens, Robins, Blackbirds, Song Thrush, Dunnocks, Bullfinches, Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Chaffinches, Coal/Blue/Great/Long-tailed Tits.
Mammals: Grey Squirrels, Hedgehogs, Brown Rat, Pipistrelle Bats, Saprano Pipistrelle Bats, Wood Mice.
Insects/Spiders: Woodlice, Flies, Midges, Wasps, Bumble Bees, Buff tailed Bees, Honey Bees, Crickets, Common Field Grasshoppers, Ants, Sheet Web Spiders, Orb Web Spiders, Funnel Web Spiders.
Butterflies/Moths: Large White, Peacock, Red Admiral, Holly Blue, Silver Studded Blue, Brimstone, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Species of day flying Moths. A Jersey Tiger Moth was seen in the third week of the month alongside the Hazelwood boundary
Dragonfly/Damselfly: Common Darter, Southern Hawker, Broad Bodied Chaser, Small Red.
Pond Life: Pond Skaters, Whirlygig Beetles, Backswimmers.
Plants in Flower/Berry: Cotton Grass, Cut-leaved geranium, Rowan, Holly, Ivy, Crocosmia, Blackberry, Dandelion, Sundews, Bell Heather, Ling, Cross-leaved Heath, White Pond Lily, Marsh Gentian.
Silver-Studded Blue Butterflies were seen in the first week of the month.
A Dartford Warbler was spotted for the second month running, alongside a Stonechat, on the Northern area of the heath.
Chiffchaffs were grouping for migrating back to warmer climes for the winter.
Heathers in full bloom.
NATURE FACT
The Jersey Tiger Moth, Euplagia Quadripunctaria, can be found flying on warm days and visiting flowers, such as Buddleia. They also fly at night. The patterning in the wings is striking, with red underwings. The caterpillars can be seen from September to the following May, overwintering as small larvae. It feeds on a wide range of herbaceous plants including Common Nettle, Bramble, and Ground Ivy.
Recorders: C. Wilcox K. Wilcox
SITE MANAGEMENT
The monthly work party concentrated it’s efforts on repairing the perimeter fencing and erecting a sleeper bridge in the North West corner of the Reserve.
Jersey Tiger Moth Image by K Wilcox
