The summer has had magical as well as sad moments as far as our wildlife is concerned. The saddest ones being the amount of rubbish found in the fields and ditches, mostly thrown from cars and the loss of species on the roads especially the hedgehogs and a green woodpecker. However, the magical moments have been very special. On the bird front; the pair of local red kites have been demonstrating their aerobatics and seem often to fly for fun on the wind and thermals. Wonderful to watch. Owls have also been high on the agenda this month. Three little owls sat on someone’s fence and one was a youngster who then took up hiding from the magpies in the outer bread oven. At night it perched on the front porch roof just outside the wildlife watcher’s bedroom giving the impression it was in the room. In my own experience, on one of my evening walks, I encountered a green woodpecker on the path a few feet in front of me before it flew away and then as I came along a hedge and turned the corner to the stile there sitting on it was a young tawny owl still with downy feathers sticking out. It tilted its head one way then the other taking me in and after a few seconds of inspecting this bi-ped, it silently flew off allowing me to progress. Awe inspiring. Another first sighting for me in Herefordshire was by the River Lugg bridge, going towards Bodenham Church, it was a dipper. It was bobbing up and down on the edge of the river in the gravel snacking up the invertebrates before flying up stream. Magical!

Many butterflies have come out in July and August, all the common species found in Herefordshire. They are seen in abundance along pathways, in gardens and the woodlands too. At Marden church the moth traps were put out and over 100 were identified, from tiny attractive mini micro moths to large Elephant and Poplar hawk moths. We have had many bees and a large black and orange female that l think is a red tail, was joined to a smaller bee that I presume was the smaller male. I watched with amazement. When our eucalyptus was in flower, every type of bee came for the nectar and the sound of buzzing was so intense it sounded like a swarm of honey bees. I did see a swarm earlier in the year weighing down a branch of elder in our field hedge they were not there the next day so I hope they found a home, although we have one in the shed roof at the church. I have left them undisturbed and hope they will move on at some point.

With the intermittent rain and warm weather all the plant species have gone mad with growth. One person reported they had removed a stinging nettle from their garden that was well over 8 foot tall. We have a lovely nettle display around our pond as well as the teasels.  I hope the nettles are full of butterfly eggs although the whites do like to lay on our brassicas. On the garden cam this summer we have at last spotted the hedgehog snuffling in search of yummy goodies (I pray it was slugs) through the grass on a few occasions at night. So I am delighted to share my patch with the wildlife.