May has bought with it some wonderful warm, sunny days and our wildlife has been out and about in full force! At the ponds, stunning dragonflies and damselflies can be seen flitting amongst the yellow flag iris, ragged robin, bog bean and horse tail. So far we’ve spotted scarce chasers, broad-bodied chasers, large reds, common blues and the impressive emperors.
With the warmer weather here, we have also started up our regular reptile surveys again across the heath. We’ve seen several slow worms, smooth snakes, sand lizards and common lizards. Visitors have also reported seeing adders out and about on the paths, including a beautiful young female who we saw last summer as a juvenile. The rangers have called her Amber due to her beautiful copper colouring. It’s so encouraging to see that our reptiles are doing well, especially our very rare smooth snakes and sand lizards.
This month we have also welcomed back our lovely nightjars from their winter homes in Africa. A couple have been spotted by our rangers and heard at dusk making their distinctive churring calls. Other bird sightings this month include mistle thrush, cuckoo, firecrest, goldcrest, buzzard, song thrush, woodlark, stonechats and of course our beautiful Dartford warblers.
The wet areas of heathland are covered in bright red sundews and our orchids are also beginning to emerge including early-purple and bee orchid. Cockchafers, also known as maybugs, have been out in abundance munching happily on all the plants. Our vapourer moth caterpillars, who have been chilling in our office for the past month, have now been introduced to their new home. We’ve set up a special enclosure for them next to the sand lizard enclosure. These funky looking caterpillars will enjoy munching on all the willow before building themselves a cocoon. From July, the moths will begin to emerge.
The hot, dry weather may have seen a flurry of wildlife activity but it can also be dangerous. The many heathland fires across the country this month have shown just how dangerous these dry conditions can be and the rangers have been reviewing their wildfire training and keeping the water bouser on standby just in case.
A highlight this month was our successful Wildlife Day! This was a whole day dedicated to celebrating our fantastic heathland wildlife and an opportunity for the rangers to chat with our visitors about how they can help us protect it. We welcomed local experts and organisations for the event and everyone had great fun. We had lots going on with pond dipping, bug hunts, bird of prey meet and greet, games and crafts. A definite highlight though was our grazier who bought along his adorable lambs and sheep as well as one of his cows and her very cute calf! Our visitors were able to see the sheep being sheared and even had a go at feeding the lambs! The event was enjoyed so much that we are hoping to hold another Wildlife Day later in the year.