August Highlights

August from a bird point of view was pretty poor as Jackie and I did very little birding, I continued out on a few surveys on the Purbeck NNR, otherwise it was family month spending time with the grandchildren.  On the few occasions we were able to get out the only birding highlight was when we had a walk around Hydes Heath at Arne when we had 3 Osprey and a family party of Spotted Flycatcher.

2 of 3 Osprey seen over the edge of Wareham Channel from Hydes Heath Arne

© Nick Hull

Spotted Flycatcher © Nick Hull

My personal highlight of the month was during a reptile survey it was a cool morning sunny and light wind you would think was perfect, we managed Slow Worm, Grass Snake, Smooth Snake and an Adder, which was very nice particularly the Adder as we don't often find then.  It wasn't until I lifted the last cover that really made the morning, under the last cover were 7 Smooth Snake, an adult female and 6 very recently born young. 

Smooth Snake photograph taken under licence © Nick Hull

There is only 4 juveniles in shot the other 2 were underneath the adult and not visible from the angle the shot was taken. The adult will stay with the newly born young for a few days and then it's off to fend for themselves.  The sloughed skin maybe or may not be hers it would be interesting to know if females slough before they give birth or after.  This female looks very shiny so possibly she has sloughed recently.

Moths that turned up in the trap over August were much the norm for the time of year several Jersey Tiger found their way to the trap and around the garden was probably the most colourful moth of the month.

Jersey Tiger © Nick Hull

This next moth was the first ever caught in the garden which is always nice and it's the first macro moth which has been new for quite a while as mainly these days it's the small micro which are new.

Dark Spectacle © Nick Hull 

Dark Spectacle © Nick Hull 

This was quickly followed by another garden first in the guise of a September Thorn another new macro for the garden list.

September Thorn © Nick Hull

In July's blog I post a photograph of a green Fleabane Tortoise Beetle Cassida murraea, well on a recent odonata survey I came across another beetle this time it was orange in colour. It turned out that this was the same species in a different colour form.

Cassida murraea Fleabane Tortiose Beetle © Nick Hull

Out of the 167 species of Hoverfly that are commonly found in the UK some are big and some are small they very from black to bright yellow and black. Some mimic bumble and honey bees or Hornets  others just look like other flies but most are very good pollinators and like bees can be found around the garden flowers.  They range in size from being very small to very large here are a few from our wildlife garden in August.

male_Xanthogramma pedissequum or Superb-Dayglower © Nick Hull

Eupeodes corollae © Nick Hull

Volucella zonaria or Hornet Hoverfly © Nick Hull

On the Odonata surveys I saw the usual common species for the time of year The Emperor, Migrant, Southern and Brown Hawker, Common and Ruddy Darter, Keeled Skimmer and Azure, Common Blue, Blue-tailed, Small Red, Emeral and Red-eyed Damselfly. So a nice selection in and around the ponds some of which I haven't been to before, so it was very nice to explore new areas.

Emerald Damselfly © Nick Hull

Ceriagroin tenellum - Small Red Damselfly © Nick Hull

Orthetrum coerulescens Keeled Skimmer © Nick Hull

The last photograph of the Keeled Skimmer provoked some conversations about what sex it was as teneral males look similar to female but this one has the golden yellow abdomen but is showing a translucent blue film all over. It is thought this is a young male which has just started colouring up to the pale blue of an adult male.