Summer is in full swing here at the heath and the hot, sunny weather has continued. Across the park, the heather is coming into flower creating a stunning purple carpet across the heathland. We have 3 types of heather here at Avon Heath; bell, ling and cross-leaved. Each flowers in their own beautiful shade of purple. Cross-leaved heather, found primarily on wet heath, is a particular favourite of the rare and wonderful silver-studded blue butterfly. These tiny, delicate butterflies have been out in abundance this month and we have been conducting regular weekly surveys to keep track of their numbers on site.
We have also been visited a couple of times this month by the Dorset Flora Group who have been surveying the site for a variety of interesting plants including the rare small adders tongue fern. It was great to hear from them how diverse our plant life is. We’ve also started moth trapping again to see what species of moth are out and about at night. There’s been a huge variety in species, including several species of hawk moths, peppered moth, white wave and clouded border.
Our Creatures of the Night event was a fantastic success. We invited members of the public to join our rangers and experts on a guided walk around the heath, beginning at dusk and watching the emergence of the animals that only come out at night. Our lucky attendees saw 10 glow worms and lots of bats including noctules, common and soprano pipistrelles and serotines. We were also treated to several nightjars making their distinctive churring calls and flying around our heads. What a brilliant experience!
This month our rangers, along with our grazier, have started an exciting project trialling ‘no-fence fencing’ on our goats at one of our no public access sites. You may have seen TV farmer Jeremy Clarkson using the system on his popular program Clarkson's Farm. No Fence is a system designed by a Norwegian company for managing grazing goats without the need for fences. A collar is hung around the goats' necks, which emits an audible warning when it approaches the virtual fence. The virtual pastures can be moved and altered as needed easily on a mobile phone or tablet. We will be using our goats to graze an area full of bramble that we otherwise would not be able to gain access to. If the trial is successful we may introduce the technology to our cows as well.
With the hot, dry weather continuing, we have been on high wildfire alert. The heathland is very dry and you may have seen that lots of fires have been breaking out on heathlands across the country. This is very dangerous conditions for our wildlife and the public. We were very happy to host Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue who held a very informative and important wildfire training day at Avon Heath for our rangers and partner organisations earlier in the month. The dedication and professionalism of the fire fighters is admirable and we were very happy to learn all we could from them.