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June is a month when natural events progress at such a pace that there is never enough time to take them all in! Hundreds of different species of plants are flowering, myriad insects are emerging to pollinate them or eat their leaves and numerous resident birds and summer migrants are exploiting the insects to feed their young.
By the Water
Take a walk by your local pond, lake or stream and the chances are that you will see mallard, coot, moorhen or little grebes busily feeding their young or teaching them to find food and stay out of trouble from potential predators.
In your garden and in the countryside
In our gardens and throughout the countryside common birds such as blackbirds, starlings and blue, coal, great and long-tailed tits are busy producing the next generation after a harsh winter.
Whereas the tits have timed their breeding cycle to exploit insects when feeding their young, sparrowhawks breed slightly later and can then pick off inexperienced young birds to provide food for their own chicks.
On the heathland or near conifer plantations
If you live near heathland or a conifer plantation, now is the time to visit at dusk to have a unique experience as you enter the mysterious world of the nightjar.
These superbly camouflaged birds have a huge mouth for catching insects, and in particular moths.
Listen for a nasal ‘kwick’ and the hypnotic churring song of the male which rises and falls in pitch. In flight the males show white patches on the wings and tail and sometimes engage in wing-clapping displays through the woodland rides.
In a wildflower meadow the butterflies appear
To experience the variety of plants on display in June, try visiting some wildflower meadows on Dorset Wildlife Trust reserves such as Kingcombe, Fontmell Down and Powerstock or the coastal meadows at Durlston Country Park.
Many of the flowers are the food plants of some of our spectacular summer butterflies.
For example horsehoe vetch, which grows on short dry turf on chalk or limestone, is the sole foodplant of the stunning adonis blue butterfly. Notice the sky-blue wings of the male and the distinctive black lines that cross the white fringes of the wings.
Kidney vetch, which is also characteristic of chalk, limestone and coastal grassland, is the sole foodplant of our smallest butterfly, the small blue which is easy to miss given its size and more sombre colour.
In the woods and on the banks
The appearance of tall stands of purple foxgloves by woods and on banks spells the end of spring as summer takes over.
These substantial plants produce their impressive display of flowers in their second year and then die.
The nests of wood ants are also found on woodland margins where piles of pine needles and twigs can become substantial mounds and provide a home for as many as 100,000 ants.
The workers leave scent trails to avoid getting lost when they forage for caterpillars, worms and aphids which they milk for honeydew.
Wood ants spray formic acid at potential predators but jays exploit this by encouraging the ants to spray their feathers, which helps to control feather lice.
In both winter and summer green woodpeckers rely on the ants and their larvae as an important source of food.
Near a stream or pond
A walk by a stream or pond in June will reveal a variety of wetland plants such as comfrey, yellow flag and water forget-me-not, in addition to several sedges and grasses.
Also this month, look out for the emperor dragonfly by still water.
The male has a green thorax and blue abdomen, and given that it has the largest wingspan of any British species, it is unmistakeable. It is very territorial and can also be seen chasing other species of dragonflies.
Watch out, watch out - there's a water vole about!
And finally, keep an eye open for evidence of the water vole as you take a stroll along your local river or stream. Dorset is fortunate in retaining healthy populations of this popular rodent (alias Ratty from Wind in the Willows) which has the dubious distinction of being Britain’s fastest declining mammal.
A neatly nibbled grass lawn around a bankside hole or a collection of droppings on a waterside location are telltale signs, but you may be lucky and see a vole feeding at leisure or paddling furiously across the stream to reach bankside safety.
Written by John Wright
Dorset Wildlife Trust Member & Volunteer
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