Nature Notes July 2024

At last a few sunny days and a chance to sit out in the garden and see what turns up. I was treated the other day to the sharp clacking song of a Wren, sitting in a tree with what looks like a large spider that he was bringing home to his second brood of the year. Wrens are this country’s most numerous breeding bird and are found in many of our gardens; however, their small size and retiring habits mean that many of us do not know they are around. With their short neck and tail and their loud song they are unmistakable.There are around 11 million breeding territories in the UK, although the population does crash following cold winters. In order to stay warm in the severest weather, wrens often huddle together in nest boxes with a record of 61 wrens being recorded in a single box. 

 

A more unusual visitor to my garden was a Common Field Grasshopper, a nymph or juvenile stage. As the name suggests, they are abundant in grassy areas and readily move into gardens especially if there is an area of long grass, their preferred food source. Adults can be found from June until late Autumn, and the males can often be heard ‘stridulating’ – singing by rubbing their back legs against their wings. Unlike some of its relatives, this species has long wings as an adult and can fly well, occasionally forming swarms; it can even swim. 

Southern Hawker Dragonflies are regular visitors to my garden and the females can often be seen laying eggs in damp vegetation around the edge of the pond. They are large dragonflies, up to 75 mm in length with a 50 mm wingspan. They chase and catch other insects on the wing, up to the size of a butterfly, flying throughout the day in warm weather. Mature males can be seen flying just above the surface of the water, aggressively defending their territory. However, like all dragonflies, they are absolutely harmless, in spite of old-wive’s tales describing them as ‘devil’s darning needles’. The larvae, or nymphs, spend up to two years in the pond, feeding on live prey such as insects, before spending just a few weeks in the adult form.  

If you would like to see more wildlife in your garden, there are a number of changes you can introduce. A few trees and shrubs with lots of undergrowth will make your garden attractive to a wide variety of insects and birds. An area of lawn left to grow a little bit longer during the summer will allow grasshoppers to thrive, as well as some of our attractive wild flowers. Adding a pond is probably the single change that will increase the diversity of wildlife in your garden, not only for aquatic animals, but also as a source of drinking water for all of the other animals. Not every garden has room for all of these, but even a small area of dense vegetation, a small patch of grass left to grow longer or putting in a small pond will bring a rapid increase in biodiversity. They also serve as corridors, connecting other wildlife-rich areas.