High Summer and signs of Autumn
‘It’s been an odd year’ is something I am sure most naturalists say every year. Is there such a thing as a normal year anymore!? Looking back to last year, we had a fairly wet and warm July which conspired to produce a good early crop of fungi across the New Forest.
Early indications this year suggest that the recent run of dry weather might put any promising signs of a mass emergence of fungi on hold for a while, but there is still plenty out there to be seen. On a recent bioblitz with the Young Explorers in a patch of private woodland, of the 120 or so species recorded fungi featured quite heavily (albeit many were small, desiccated examples). Breaking down the list of species, it is no surprise that flora and invertebrates featured heavily. One of the most productive areas (and best tactics for a good list of species) was a patch of well-grown Bramble and Ragwort that attracted a steady stream of wasps, hoverflies, bees and butterflies; including the highlight for many, a Silver-washed Fritillary highlighting just how important these species are to support nectar-loving insects.
Early indications suggest birds have had a mixed season in the New Forest with woodland birds in particular having a tough time with poor productivity. These things are rarely as straightforward as they appear at the outset, but a lack of food appears to be a considerable factor. This is backed up at our coastal Constant Effort Survey site with a significant reduction in the number of juvenile common woodland species such as tits, finches and warblers recorded, when compared with recent years. Many of the Hawfinch processed at our study sites across the Forest where significantly underweight while it appears to have also been a poor season for other classic woodland species such as Redstart, Spotted Flycatcher and
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.
By contrast we are hearing some positive news from the heath; it is still early days (they have a long way to go yet) but we have seen an increase in productivity with Curlew. This is largely thanks to dedicated fieldwork by Forestry England and others, though we still have a long way to go yet! The New Forest Raptor Monitoring Group have been busy across the Forest looking at a mix of species suggesting some reasonable breeding success. As mentioned in the previous newsletter it has been a great year for our coastal species with Terns, Gulls and waders in particular producing a good clutch of young.
As with the rest of the country it has been a very slow start for our lepidoptera (butterflies & moths) in the New Forest with much reduced numbers of most species. It is thought the mild, yet very wet winter and spring has had a significant impact on numbers of spring and early summer species. The recent run of dry, warm weather has encouraged an emergence of typical high summer species including some previously rare and scarce species that appear to be benefiting from our warmer climate.
Image: juvenile colour-ringed Curlew, central New Forest, July 2024 © Wild New Forest Guided Tours
Wasps and Bees have featured heavily in recent posts on the Wild New Forest Facebook page, as many people start to focus on other taxa through the warmer summer months. At the New Forest Show we were situated close by the Bumble Bee Trust who passed on some fascinating insights and shared concern for the future of these important pollinators. As has been mentioned on the Facebook page, the increase in beekeeping in recent years is a cause for concern; the impact of non-native Honey Bees is having a considerable influence on the decline of many of our native species. As is (a common theme here) the feeling that this is going to be one of the worst years for some time for our native Bee species. If you are interested in contributing data, the trust are looking for volunteers to complete Bee walk transects, further details can be found at their website: https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/
Young Persons Wildlife Camp
Applications are now open for our next Wild New Forest Young Persons Wildlife Camp over the weekend of 25-27 Oct 2024, based at Cameron’s Cottage, RSPB Franchises Lodge and kindly sponsored by the Cameron Bespolka Trust. With an all-inclusive participation fee of just £25 per person, this weekend is especially for young wildlife enthusiasts aged between 12 and 18. We will be running a range of activities including bird ringing, moth trapping, mammal camera trapping, bioblitz, fieldcraft and advice on career progression. Places are limited, the application form (deadline 15 October) can be downloaded at https://www.wildnewforest.co.uk/get-involved
Wildlife Explorers Club
The Wildlife Explorers Club continues to grow with 30 members ensuring a good turn out for each meet. The July events were focussed on high summer insects based out of Hockey’s Farm. We had a good poke around the mix of habitats on site producing a range of interesting beasties. As always the bioblitz was great fun with the winning team recording 125 species in around 90 minutes.
The latest Wildlife Explorers Club newsletter can be found here, details, and application form for the club can be found on our website here.
The Young Explorers Club is made possible thanks to funding and support from the following organisations:
July walk highlights
July was largely dry and settled. Overall, we managed to run seven walks, seven boat trips, five bespoke walks and two young explorers events.
One of the highlights of the month was a lovely boat trip across to Newtown Harbour where we stopped for a stroll around the reserve and went to the visitor centre. We were lucky with the weather; although no Eagles were spotted we did see a great mix of wildlife including an exhilarating feeding frenzy comprising terns and gulls targeting white bait pushed to the surface by predatory fish.
As always, the dusk walks were fun. Nightjar and Woodcock put on a great show on most walks and we were fortunate to see other wildlife including a good showing of glow-worms and a lovely display of a mass of Daubenton’s Bats hawking over a pond with Common Pipistrelle and Noctule Bat nicely showing their favoured niches.
Images: Sandwich Tern, Woodland Jumping Spider, Ringlet & Noctule, July 2024 © Wild New Forest Guided Tours
July fieldwork
Fieldwork starts to wind down in July and we come out of the busy bird breeding season. Our Hawfinch study areas were closed down towards the end of June after what has been a poor year for the species with many of the birds processed underweight suggesting a lack of natural food.
Our focus turns to the coast where ringing sessions step up a gear from mid-month as the first returning migrants start passing through. The CES (Constant Effort Survey) starts to get a little busier as young birds start dispersing; at the time of writing the number of juveniles is considerably lower when compared to recent years.
Pine Marten fieldwork continued through the month including the processing of three recently deceased victims of road traffic accidents. DNA samples were taken for processing and checks were made on the stomach contents, age and sex of each. It is sad to pick up so many roadkills in such a short space of time but we will make sure that we get as much data as possible from each specimen.
Looking ahead
As we head towards autumn our thoughts start to turn towards the fungi season. We have a full schedule of walks lined up including a new location that we are really looking forward to exploring. As we get closer to the fungi season we will also add in a couple of extended walks and a series of walks exploring heathland fungi, looking for waxcaps and the like.
By popular request we are looking to add in some weekend events based out of a central New Forest hotel. The weekends will include a mix of time in the field and short illustrated talks/workshops, plus of course plenty of time to enjoy the surroundings. The first event we are pulling together will be focussed on autumnal fungi and other sessions in the pipeline include Bird ID & Bird Song. In addition we looking to pull together a Bird Watching for Beginners course that will meet throughout the year to discuss all aspects of bird watching in the area.
Our current schedule of events and access to our booking platform can be reached via our website at https://www.wildnewforest.co.uk/event-calendar
Wild New Forest Facebook highlights
Many thanks to everyone who contributes and helps keep it such a varied, interesting and educational site. Please continue to post your interesting sightings and images and as always please include the story behind the photograph.
This month’s most popular post was the lovely clip of juvenile Tawny Owls taken by Neena Saith.
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