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.

Back to Dorset and on the catchup again

We came back to weather that was hotter than we had in Portugal and we noticed that our British year list was definitely getting behind so we had some work to do to catchup. Unfortunately I had a little trip-up and pulled my calf and strained my achilles so walking was little painful so resting and taking it easy for a few days was the best thing to do.  So for a couple of weeks all Jackie and I did was do our stint watching over the Osprey at Careys Secret Garden and a very gentle walk at Durlston CP. which in fact gave us a new bird for the year in the shape of a 1st summer Kittiwake that cruised along the cliff edge heading west which was somewhat unexpected.

Unfortunately I had a bit of a relapse prior and aggravated my injury when on the 19th May the Red-footed Falcon seen at Holt Heath the previous day was relocated.  So Jackie and I drove out to Holt next day in the late afternoon to see if we could see it, unfortunately we couldn't find where it was supposed to be.  Though we did record our first Hobby and Nightjar which put in a little early churring.  As we were leaving without seeing the falcon we met Peter Moore who had just left seeing the Red-foot and he explained where to go on the heath to see it.  We thought as we were both slow walkers that it would be best to return next day when we could do the walk in daylight.  So not to waste our time we decided to go and search for Barn Owl in the Cranborne Chase area and were successful which made a nice finish to the day.

Barn Owl - North Dorset © Nick Hull

Next morning - 21st May Jackie and I were back out on Holt Heath this time in the correct place.  It was a long walk, well for us with me limping because of my dodgy calf/achilles and Jackie not able to use her scooter, anyway we made it to the area where we ran into a number of our birding friends.  We found out that it had been seen earlier but had flown off and that it usually returns so it was just a waiting game.  

Well during our wait we saw Goshawk, Red Kite, Hobby, Kestrel, Buzzard, Curlew, Stonechat and Dartford Warblers.  After about  two hours we saw two falcons have a bit of a dust up, one was easy to identify it was a Kestrel but the other look different,  We first thought was is it a Hobby but there was no white around the head it was all dark as was the underside and we quickly realised it was the Red-footed Falcon.

Red-footed Falcon © Nick Hull

It's always nice to see a Red-footed Falcon both males and females are cracking birds to see in all plumages.  

Due to the fact Jackie can't get down and backup to Dancing ledge the only way for us to get Dorset Puffin on our list is by taking a a coastal boat trip and it so happened that on the 23rd Birds of Poole Harbour were doing just that and we were lucky to get tickets.  Heading out from Poole Quay we had a brief stop to look over Brownsea Lagoon the Sandwich and Common Tern colony was very busy and birds were flying to and fro with sand eels.  We could hear Whimbrel calling and we located them just as they lifted off the lagoon perhaps heading off to Iceland to breed.  Out in Poole Bay we saw a couple of Mediterranean Gull and terns plunging for sand eels and fish off Pilot's Point.   

Sandwich Tern paid Pilot's Point © Nick Hull

As we rounded Handfast Point, probably better known these days as Old Harry which refers to the chalk stacks, we had nesting Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls.  Ballard Cliffs still holds a number of natural nesting sites for Swift and House Martin and we saw a good number flying around.  The cliffs here have become very smooth due to weathering and that affects the number of ledge nesting species such as Cormorant, though we did find a few dotted over the cliff in suitable places for nesting.  

We then headed across Swanage Bay, I had a distant Gannet and a view of our first auks flying towards Durlston.  As we rounded Durlston Head towards Anvil Point Lighthouse the boat paused for a while to view the Guillemot and Razorbill colony.  This was crammed with birds and very noisy and most probably smelly if we were closer with the amount of guano that whitewashed the cliff face. Further up the cliff a Fulmar was seen cruising round by its nesting site.

Main Guillemot colony Durlston Cliff © Nick Hull

As we moved off we scanned out to sea and along the cliffs and you could see the small colonies of Guillemot and a few pairs of Razorbill, also Shags that were nesting in suitable sites along the cliff.  

Pair of Razorbill off Durlston © Nick Hull

We had another pause adjacent to Blacker's Hole, this is a shallow cave which is more or less the only location on Purbeck to see breeding Kittiwake now and we did manage to see a few pairs of this very attractive gull.  Then we had a shout from Humphrey (BoPH) from the back of the boat "3 Poms going west" Pomarine Skua are not the commonest skua to see off the Dorset coast at best of times and I was lucky to just get a brief rear view from where I stood on the boat, Jackie did get aslightly better from the back and thanks to Joe from BoPH for his shot of two of the birds moving away to the west.

Kittiwake at Blacker's Hole © Nick Hull

Just a little further along the coast is Dancing Ledge and the boat stopped so we could look for Puffin though this very small tenuous population is down to just 6 birds, we think three pairs but over the last few years it has been noted that they do not seem to fledge any young and the National Trust on Purbeck have set up a project to find out why and try and reverse this decline.  We waited for a while before the first Puffin was seen coming in to the cliff from out to sea, it circled the boat and then landed on one of the ledges.  A while later another followed suit and we then had two eventually, we had one on the ledge and two bobbing about on the sea a little way off the boat giving good views to all on board.

Puffin No.1 flying by the boat. © Nick Hull

Puffin N0. 2 sitting on the sea © Nick Hull

After leaving on our way back to Poole we had several Swift over the boat a few of these certainly still use the cliffs crevices to breed in which would be the traditional natural sites to breed.

Common Swift over the boat © Nick Hull

Two of Three Pomarine Skua heading west off the boat © Joe Parker (BoPH)

This was a good addition to our year list and the rest of the trip was more or less a repeat of the birds seen on the outward journey except for Peregrine which we managed to see sat on the top of the Asda Building as we were heading into Poole Quay.

On the 28th Jackie and I went to an old friend's wake, unfortunately he passed shortly after we arrived home from holiday.  Keith Powrie was a font of all knowledge when it came to botany, dragonflies, butterflies and both Jackie and I learnt a lot from Keith over the years so it was a sad day.  Afterwards we decided to pop to Blashford on the way home to see if we could add Garden Warbler to our year list which we did without too much problem. This brought our year list up to 171 which is 6 less than this time last year so we still have some catching up to do, lets hope June is kind to us.

I think I have faired better with the Lepidoptera overall so far in May as by the time we went off to Portugal we had just seen 9 species.  We added Large White and Green Hairstreak on twitch to see the Red-footed Falcon but we really needed to up our game.  So we arranged with friends David and Fran to meet at Cerne Abbas and visit the Butterfly Conservation reserve there which we did on the 27th.

We chose a good day our main aim was to try and find Duke of Burgundy and Marsh Fritillaries and we were successful with both and added Large, Dingy, and Grizzled Skippers, Small Heath and Painted Lady and Common Blue to the year list.

Grizzled Skipper © Nick Hull

Dingy Skipper © Nick Hull

Marsh Fritillary © Nick Hull

Duke of Burgundy © Nick Hull

Duke of Burgundy © Nick Hull

On our way back to the car we had a bit of luck, I had seen one earlier but it didn't stop,  we came across a much more obliging individual a Forester Moth.  A day flyer which is a pretty scarce species and in recent years I've only seen them here at Cerne though have seen them at Martin Down to in the past.  They are a stunning metallic green colour which the photograph doesn't do it justice really a real bonus.

Forester Moth © Nick Hull

It didn't stop there as my moth traps have produced some nice moths many of them being migrants though there are a few that have been caught by others that hasn't made it to my traps as yet but there is still hope they might drop in.  The night of the 23rd May was a pretty good trap. 

Diamond-back Moth is one of the commoner migrants that I catch most years.

Diamond-back Moth © Nick Hull

Small Mottle Willow is I've only caught twice before in 2015 & 2017 so was a very nice addition

Small Mottled Willow ©

Portland Ribbon Wave has only been trapped regular on Portland and Weymouth area with the odd one turning up at other locations but since 2023 seemed to have expanded with records being recorded further away and this is my third year in a row catching this species.

Portland Ribbon Wave © Nick Hull

Now this one is for me on a different level this is a Red-belted Clearwing. Previously most of the clearwings have been considered nationally rare but since pheromone lures have been developed it has been found that they are not so rare but they are still hard to find.  I have been trying to record various clearwings over the last few years as they are such stunning species.  A fellow moth trapper Phil Saunders lives not far from me and has caught this species in his garden so I thought why shouldn't I get them as well.  So I put out the lure trap and waited for several hours and checked periodically to see if I caught anything.  It wasn't until Jackie came in around tea time and said I think there is something in your trap. A quick check and she was right there was this stunning Red-belted Clearwing.

Red-belted Clearwing © Nick Hull

I addition to the above moths on the night of the 25th again I had a good size trap and again added a few more migrants.  Again I had several Diamond-back Moth and another Small Mottled Willow but added Rusty-dot pearl, European Corn-borer, Bordered Straw and best a Blair's Mocha a species I caught for the first time last year.

Blair's Mocha - Bordered Straw
Small Mottled Willow - European Corn-borer - Rusty-dot Pearl

On the night of the 29th though I didn't catch so many moths I did add some very good species first was Flame Wainscot a Nationally Scarce species which I usual catch a few most year so it good to know they are still present in the local seedbed.  The next is a species that I was catching regularly until an area of willow and alder was cleared which was encroaching on the reedbed.  When I stopped trapping them and I had a six year break but then in 2024 I caught one and again last year and this Nationally Rare and now red data species turned up in the trap again another Mocha species this time a Dingy Mocha.

Dingy Mocha © Nick Hull

A real surprise was the finding of a Current Clearwing in my office, I'd put out the lure trap in the afternoon and thought I hadn't caught anything.  Then when I was releasing a few micros which I had to check id's on I noticed sat on the window cill was a clearwing, I quickly potted it and id'ed it as a Current Clearwing.  How did it get there the only explanation I think is that it was in the trap when I opened it to see if anything was inside and it flew out and I didn't notice it until later.  Anyway it is another good record for the garden.

Currant Clearwing © Nick Hull

That's bring us to the end of the May wildlife blog, lets hope June can produce more of the same.