Nature Notes

It is surprising how wildlife of our village can change over a relatively short time. We arrived in the village in the autumn of 1999, and for the first few springs we heard turtle dove calling on the hill across from our house, and cuckoos were regularly calling on the downs. Now in 2010 I have not observed either species for a couple of years. Yet on the positive side we now see buzzards almost daily and ravens regularly ‘croak’ their way over the downs. Perhaps the next change is the arrival of red kites which have now been around the village almost continually since mid June.

Returning home one evening I was amazed to see a strange looking beetle attracted to the light of our kitchen door. It was a male glow worm, a number of anthropomorphic thoughts came into my brain explaining why it came to the light ‘cor look at that one she is the brightest one I’ve ever seen’ sadly his reproductive instinct was frustrated.

The recent warm weather has seen an increase in the number of butterflies in the gardens of the village. Our neighbour’s lavender with its rich resource of nectar has been providing sustenance to a good variety including gatekeepers, small white and two chalk hill blues. These are not normally considered to be garden insects but with the superb quality chalk grassland just across the railway they did not have far to fly. They were also joined by a six spot burnet moth.

Enjoy the Summer wildlife.

Paul Holt
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