July Wildlife

July continued as June finished with a number of surprises the first of which came in the guise of a Golden Oriole on the 4th.  Jackie was in the conservatory and I'm in the office inputting moth records.  When Jackie come to my door and says I can hear a Golden Oriole in the wood opposite.  Rush to the front door and listen a sure enough there was a Golden Oriole making it's characteristic fluty calls Jackie made a recording using the Merlin app.  The audio was good enough to claim the record but not really good enough to reproduce here.  I put my NocMig recorder on that night and had it calling again the next morning but we never heard it again after that. Unfortunately Shaun and Ian who tried for it in the morning failed to hear it.  This was a second record of Golden Oriole for the Lytchett Bay patch.   

Because I set up my nocmig recorder I thought I would keep in recording as I usually do not start the autumn recording until the end of August.  It turned out that this was a good idea as just a few days later on the 9th July I was analysing the night of the 8th/9th July and came across the distinct call of a Quail flying by.  Though I can't count it for my year list as I didn't physically hear it like we did with the oriole, but it counts for the patch nocmig list. On the 11th in an attempt to get quail on our year list we visited various location from where they had been reported with no luck at all.  

Two Owls · Common Quail

I suggested as we were in the Cranborne Chase we should try Wyke Down as it was getting late afternoon which turned out to be a good decision as we eventually heard Quail and Grey Partridge.

On the 22nd Jackie and I met with friends at the RSPB's Winterborne Down's reserve. Our aim here was to see Stone-curlew.  Walking up from the car park Jackie and I stopped and both said simultaneously Stone-curlew calling.  From the view point I think it was Fran who spotted the first Stone-curlew and then a second was found.  Views were ok but we had some heat haze to contend with as the temperature was rising. 

After our visit here we headed to Langford Lakes Nature Reserve a location Jackie and I hadn't visited for sometime in fact we twitched a Red-footed Falcon there in 2021.  By the time we arrived it was lunch time so into the the cafe we went.  We had a very nice lunch and headed out on to the reserve to see what we could find.  It wasn't until we arrived at the main hide that we saw anything other than the usual species. 

Green Sandpiper - Langford Lakes © Nick Hull

 From the hide we found two Green Sandpiper and two Common Sandpiper, Canada Geese, Coot, Lapwing and ended with an adult Little Ringed Plover and its juvenile.

Juvenile Little Ringed Plover © Nick Hull

I also added three species of Dragonfly to my annual list. The first was Blue-eyed Hawker or giving it its old name Southern Migrant Hawker which are a stunning species which were on the home patch.  The shot below shows why they are named Blue-eyed Hawker.

Aeshna affinis - Blue-eyed Hawker - Lytchett Bay © Nick Hull

Then Jackie and I visited Silverlake and added Scarlet Darter/ as they are known now Broad-scarlet Darter and Red-veined Darter, Lesser Emperor and Small Red-eyed Damselfly.

Pair of Red-veined Darter mating in a tree -Silverlake © Nick Hull

Broad-Scarlet / Scarlet Darter - Silverlake © Nick Hull

We ended the month on 184 for the year we seem to be very slowly adding species this year.

On the Butterfly front Jackie and I saw 28 species in July adding Grayling, Purple Hairstreak, Silver-washed Fritillary, Brown Argus, Clouded Yellow, Adonis Blue, Small Blue and Dark Green Fritillary.

Clouded Yellow - Silverlake © Nick Hull

The moths have been pretty good this month though not quite hit the level of The Latin I caught in June but I've had some good migrants and some good species for Dorset.

I often catch Birch Mocha and Maiden's Blush and occasionally Dingy Mocha and Clay Triple-lines but over the last month I've added Blair's Mocha and the rarer Jersey Mocha to the Cyclophora family list just leaving me one more to catch to complete the set False Mocha. 

Photographs © Nick Hull

I've also been catching a variety of migrant some are annual but others are dependent on weather condition and good breeding years etc.  Cydia implana, Rush Veneer and Rusty Dot Pearl are micro moths and Vestal, Small Mottled Willow and White Point are macro moths.  

Photographs © Nick Hull

I also caught a species which I've been looking out for since moving here in 2012 as I commonly see it's relative the Mint Moth Pyrausta aurata around the garden but I have never seen or caught Purple & Gold Pyrausta purpuralis In fact over the last couple of traps I've caught three individuals of this stunning little moth.

Common Purple & Gold Pyrausta purpuralis © Nick Hull

This hot weather has brought a variety of moth species some have been pretty rare over the last couple of month and I'm not sure if it will continue hopefully it will. Though we do desperately need rain but if it keeps bring the good moths to add to the Lytchett Bay list at least that's some kind of consolation.  

Birds, Butterflies and Odonata June 2026

The birds, Jackie and I are still playing catchup and are still little behind on our average year count but we did manage to add eight species to the year list.  Starting with a trip into the New Forest on the 5th where we added Common Redstart at Markash Wood and more at Pig Bush.  

Male Common Redstart - New Forest © Nick Hull

Female Common Redstart - New Forest © Nick Hull

On our way back to the van we came across a feeding flock of recently fledged Firecrest and they were very vocal and moving in and around some holly in search for insects food.  What struck me most was the juvenile birds likeness to young Blue Tits. It was a delight to hear and watch them as the searched every leaf for food and watch the adults feeding them as the moved through past us.

Recently fledged juvenile Firecrest New Forest © Nick Hull

Our next available day was the 7th we had planned to go to Devon but the weather didn't seem to promising so I suggested Portland as we still needed a few sea birds for our list.   When we arrived at the Obelisk and set the scope there was a a very large flock of mixed gulls feeding out over the 'Race' and lots of auks were moving backwards and forwards to the cliffs and then back out to sea for more food to feed their youngsters.  It took a short while before we saw our first Manx Shearwater and a little longer to see the first Balearic.

Manx Shearwater © Nick Hull

Balearic Shearwater © Nick Hull

With the melee of gulls it was only time before a skua would be in but it was whether we had the time to spend waiting.  Scanning continuously through the gull flock I suddenly picked up a small dark tern and scooping it was surprised to see it was a Black Tern in fact there were two. I managed to get Jackie on to it before they disappeared.  A little after I saw a dark looking bird flying directly toward me head towards the gulls and it turned it was an obvious skua and scoping it was clearly an Arctic Skua a good addition to our year list.  There were lots of Gannet, Kittiwake, fewer Fulmar and lots of Guillemot and lesser numbers of Razorbill made for a nice seawatch.

We left Portland and popped into Ferrybridge for the single reason that we hadn't seen Little Tern or Ringed Plover.  The Little Tern was easy moving around over the nesting area and over the fleet.  The Ringed Plover proved a little harder. Though I did manage to find one on the chesil bank in amongst the thrift (Sea Pinks). 

On the 15th we were back in the Weymouth area visiting Lodmoor.  We were hoping to catch sight of the Bittern but unfortunately we had missed its morning flight.  But we saw the Marsh Harrier, a pair Spoonbill and Great White Egret and Jackie had a catchup with Bearded Tit which she had missed when we did the Poole Harbour Birdboat.  We also had very good views of a Common Whitethroat which put on a very nice display and sang to us from the top of a Dog Rose.

Common Whitethroat - Lodmoor © Nick Hull

On the 18th we visited friends that live at Martin, so we went early and had a walk on the down before we met up.  We managed to hear a single Turtle Dove which added another species to our list, so our birding month finished with us on 179 species and we still have a few fairly common species which we are missing.

Lepidoptera 

Our Butterfly sightings have only increased by two species both were first seen at Badbury Rings on the 16th Marbled White and Ringlet bringing us to 25 species so far.

Ringlet - Badbury Rings © Nick Hull

Marbled White - Badbury Rings © Nick Hull

As for the moths this month has been incredible I've caught 180 species two of which have been real rarities.  The first was on the 19th was the rarest. First recorded in Dorset in 2001 and two in 2016 and the last in 2023 are the only ones listed on the Dorset Moths website. So it appears mine could be the 5th record for the county.

The Latin as I found it sitting on the carton - © Nick Hull

The Latin © Nick Hull

Phil Saunders, another moth enthusiast who also lives in Upton, contacted me and asked if I still had the Latin and I said yes so he came over to see it.  He brought with him a Light Crimson Underwing which is a Nationally scarce Red Datebook species and also a migrant, which he had caught the same night.  Which was really nice as it was a species I've never seen.  The odd thing is that just ten days later I go to my trap and I see a large moth fluttering around inside, I covered the trap so it was dark inside and then took another look and it had settled somewhere inside. My thoughts was that it was a Light Crimson Underwing and I didn't want it to escape.  I went through the top cartons and no sign then I saw a head poking around one of the cartons and I slowly placed a pot over it and it turned into a Pine Hawk-moth which was nice as I only ever get one or two a year.  I continued slowly as I was sure what I saw was a LC Underwing.  Two egg cartons later I turn over and there it was I quickly potted it and relaxed, one of my own. The surprise was two cartons later and there was a second. 

Two Light Crimson Underwing © Nick Hull

Light Crimson Underwing © Nick Hull

I also have caught a few other moth of interest which I've only caught a few times over the years.

There are a few other micro's that I caught for the first time in the garden, they were relatively common species which I put the effort in to identify that I've probably caught before but hadn't been in such good condition to be able to get a identification without gen-detting.

Odonata

Well we had an early emergence of Large Red Damselflies from the garden pond and then very little of note until recently when we started to see visiting Keeled Skimmer in the front garden. Mostly immature individuals then one or two adult females and this last week we have had a nice blue powdered male visiting and second generation Large Red Damselfly have also been seen. The best was a Golden-ringed Dragonfly (Jackie's favourite) which flew in and perched on the hedge and took a rest for a while.

Male Keeled Skimmer © Nick Hull

Female Keeled Skimmer © Nick Hull

Golden-ringed Dragonfly © Nick Hull

At this moment in time we are not doing so well on the Odonata front with only having recorded ten species but hopefully we will be able to extend that over the next couple of months.

Other Garden Wildlife

We've recorded a few other species in the garden which we usually see away out on the Lytchett Bay patch.  The first is one of the Potter Wasp group which uses Marble Galls to place beetle larvae into and lay her eggs.

Symmophus bifasciatus © Nick Hull

Another wasp species with a great name of Astata boops this is a small wasp that predates of Shieldbugs and we have often recorded it in the garden and they just seem to sit on the rockery stone and wait presumably for a shieldbug  to come along and ambush it.

Astata boops © Nick Hull

Another wasp which Jackie found in our porch was this very stunning Jewel or Ruby-tail wasp, again these are small wasp which parasises on burrow dwelling solitary bees, such as Red Mason Bee. The reason I've put it as Chrysis ignita group is there is around 40 species in the group and genital examination is required to separate them.

Chrysis ignita group_Jewel-Wasp © Nick Hull

The following two wasps Jackie found in the conservatory the one on the left is a European Beewolf Philanthus triangulum and the one on the right is Cerceris arenaria. Both are digger wasps which means they dig burrows usually on compacted sandy soils which will have several cells which they populate with their prey.  In the case of the Beewolf no surprise really they take honeybee and Cerceris arenaria populates hers with Weevils.

hilanthus triangulum - Beewolf & Cerceris arenaria 

Roll on July hopefully it will bring more new species or at least some of the local scarce species that are always possible to turn up adding to our years lists of wildlife.