Nature Notes July

July delivered dry, hot sunny days, with the occasional thunder storm toward the end of the month.  

SIGHTINGS
Birds:   Carrion Crows, Wood Pigeons, Stock Doves, Magpies, Jays, Jackdaws, Buzzards, Tawny Owl, Green/Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Sparrowhawk, Black-headed/Common Gulls, Nuthatches, Treecreeper, Dunnocks, Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Robins, Wrens, Goldcrest, Coal/Blue/Great/Long-tailed Tits, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Bullfinches, Siskins, Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, Willow Warblers, Stonechats, Tree Pipits.
Mammals:   Grey Squirrels, Pipistrelle Bats, Wood Mouse, Fox, Roe Deer.
Reptiles:   Common Lizard, Grass Snake, Adder, Slow Worm.
Butterflies/Moths:   Large White, Small White, Holly Blue, Peacock, Brimstone, Silver-studded Blue, Comma, Speckled Wood, Red Admiral, Meadow Brown, Grayling, Ringlet.
Dragonfly/Damselfly:    Four Spot Chaser, Broad Bodied, Small Red
Insects:   Common Green Grasshopper, Bees, Wasps, Flies, Ants, Wasp Spider.
Pond Life:   Pond Skaters, Water Boatman, Smooth Newt.
Plants in flower:   Low growing Gorse, Cut-leaved Geranium, Heather/Ling - Cross leaved and Bell.

A Tawny Owl was heard along the Hazel Drive fenceline.

Nature Fact

The Common Green Grasshopper can be found in a variety of grassland habitats over most altitudes.  They can be a variety of colours, but their background is mostly brown. The females are more variable and may show splashes of red or purple in their colourations.  They lay their eggs in the Autumn, these then hatch in Spring and the young hoppers grow through a series of instars until they reach full maturity in early summer.