Nature Notes published in the Hambledonian August/September edition:
Another two months of this strange new world and the wheel of the year has turned once more. Here we are in the summer and the meadows, hedgerows and the woodlands are full of life.
Walking through the fields of bright green and now golden barley never gets old for me and the farms across Speltham Hill and Windmill down are full of ripening crops, and reddening dock flowers, providing shelter and sustenance for the wildlife.
On a walk across the downs towards Soberton we discovered clouds of small heath butterflies rising from the brambles and a golden ringed dragonfly, far from its usual waterside habitat, sunning itself on cocksfoot grass. I have noticed many more dragonflies and damselflies around this year, perhaps because of the improved air quality due to reduced traffic.
Closer to home, if you take a walk up Speltham Hill and along the footpaths through Rushmere Farm, you will find some signposts which tell you of a wonderful conservation project. As part of a scheme organised by Natural England, Rushmere Farm are rewilding certain areas of the fields with indigenous flora and fauna. Each signpost will tell you what they are growing and what wildlife you may find there. It’s well worth a look. There are two signposts on a gentle walk across the farmland from Pit Hill Lane and it didn’t take me long to find plenty of bugs in the wildflowers.
Thick-legged flower beetles are bright green, long beetles that are very easy to spot amongst the dog roses. I was even lucky enough to find seven spot ladybird larvae in the ox-eye daises, next to the barley fields and opposite the strip of woodland there.
In the hawthorn bushes you’ll find froghopper larvae hiding in the froth that is more commonly known as ‘Cuckoo Spit’ and if you’re lucky you can spot the froghoppers themselves.
At Rushmere pond the swallows stop to take a drink and the house martins have been gathering mud from the last of the puddles, for their nests. There are also moorhen chicks on the pond there.
I’ve had some fabulous sightings sent to me by Hambledon villagers. Fawns in the fields mean that it’s a good idea to keep your dog on a lead at this time of year. A stork flying across Speltham Hill was a rare sight, perhaps on its way to a local nature reserve. Fledgling Marsh Tits at Madam’s Copse, Mensland Lane and a little further afield, nesting Cattle Egrets next to the Royal Oak at Langstone. Bats have also been seen over the last few year in and around Hambledon and now is a good time to try and spot them as the evening’s are still warm and light. Common pipistrelle, soprano pipistrelle, serotine, noctule, natterers, brown long-eared and barbastelle bats, which are extremely rare, have all been noted on a 2018 survey taken in the village.
My book for August/September isn’t a book of stories this time instead it’s the ‘Complete Guide To British Insects,’ a fabulous book published by Collins, which is invaluable on bug hunts in the wildflower strips at Rushmere and to identify dragonflies, damselflies and butterflies as they drift by on your afternoon walk.
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