Things to look our for in august

A slow worm

Roe deer`s are very territorial in the summer and rut during August, They are not as aggressive as the red and fallow deer ruts. The two male (bucks) roe deers do not normally fight they just normally walk around in circles which are called roe rings. They then win the right to mate with the female (doe) who will decide when they mate. The kids are born in June because the does have delayed implantation of the embryo which i will talk about in a later blog. Grass snakes and slow worms have their young during august, The grass snakes hatch out of their eggs and slow worms break out of the membrane that they are born in. Rough grass lands,heath and woodlands are some of the places they may be seen. Look at the oak trees you will see a second growth of the year. New fresh stems and leaves at the tips of the branches. These are known as the lammas growth. They are called the lammas growth because it ties in with the pagan festival of lammas. By the end of August toads will be heading back to their hibernation sites. These sites could be as close as the rockery in the back of your garden. August is a great time of the year to look out for cinnabar moths.Their caterpillar's have been enjoying life on common ragwort but now its time for the adult`s to take over. They may be seen in meadows and espeicially on knapweed. Crickets and grass hoppers can be seen and heard during August. Grass hoppers have short antennae and crickets have long atennae. The common green grass hopper can be heard during August if you have a keen ear.(all the crickets and grasshoppers have different calls) The common green grasshopper is smaller and greener than common field grass hopper and can be found in grassy areas throughout Britain. Rowan berries ripen this month and their distinctive red colouration brightens up our countryside and tells us all that Autumn is around the corner. Longhorn beetles, Woodmice, Bumble bees, Common wasps and speckled wood butterflies enjoy the splender of blackberries that are amongst our hedgerows during August. When you go out blackberry picking remember to leave some for our friends in the hedgerows. Willow herb flowers are full of lovely colours this month along with may weeds. Listen out for shrews while taking a stroll in the country side, Shrews have a high pitched squeak and they can often be heard as they run through the tunnels in the long grass searching for earthworms and invertbrates. Because shrews have to find almost their own bodyweight in food everyday to survive they are always on the move looking for prey to eat. Look out for brimstone butterflies as they look for food on sunny days before they get ready to hibernate. The brimstone butterfly is the only member of the white (pierinae) family to hibernate, All the other member which also includes the yellows (coliadinae) and a sub-family (dismorphiinae) of which the wood white is the only British member hibernate as chrsalises. House martins and swallows may be having late broods this year as they were quite late arriving. They will be fine though, They will start migrating along with swifts during late September and early October.

A muntjac deer.

Wild boar.

I will be doing a blog on re-introduced indiginous species of Great Britain which i see the wild boar as being. This blog will also include the European Beavers. This was a wild boar that i managed to film in the forest of dean recently.

British reptiles

Part three the smooth snake.

The smooth snake is Britain's rarest snake, The smooth snake is only found in a few heathlands across Britain. One of the few places to find them is around the wearham forset in Dorset but they can also be found in surrey and Hampshire. They are fully protected by law and there is still very little known about them. A smooth snakes eye is more like a grass snakes than a adders, It has a black pupil with a red stripe around each eye and they also have a dark patch shaped like a coronet on the back of their heads. A smooth snake will have Little's speckles along its body whereas a adder will have a zigzag pattern. The female smooth snake has a smaller tail than the male. The smooth snake is very secretive and very enigmatic and rarely basks in the open, they will hide under tin and large stones, they do this for protection and shelter and also the tin produces heat for the snake to absorb. They are restricted to heathland, And as these are slowly becoming fragmented and the heath is being lost their numbers are falling. The oldest smooth snake to be found in Britain was nineteen years old which i believe is a record. The smooth snakes scales are  completely smooth whereas the grass and the adder snake has a ridge running along their scales. The best time to try and see a smooth snake is just after they has emerged from hibernation in spring. They may then be seen basking in the sunshine around the heather. The smooth snake is smaller than the adder, The female is  about sixty centimetres long with the male being slightly smaller. Their colour varies from grey to brown or even a red brown colour. Individuals have a home territory and will stay within this territory for a long time. Most of their time is spent pushing through the soil and burrowing underground looking for their main prey lizards (although it has been recorded that they have had cannibalistic traits in captivity).Mating takes place in may and the young are born in august or September, Upto fifteen young may be born at a time rupturing a thin membrane, and they are self-sufficient from birth. The young are actually born with darker spots than the adult. The young will eat spiders and insects when they are first born. A smooth snake is not poisonous but may bite if threatened from a predator. Like all snakes the smooth snake will sluff its skin every so often and will be at its most brightest just after this action.

Top tips for greening your garden.

Choose local seeds and plants that are suitable for your soil. The Worcestershire wild life trust or your local trust can advise you.

Wild flowers belong in the wild - Before buying, check plants, seed and bulbs are labelled as being from cultivated stock.

Ask your garden centre for peat-free products and use reclaimed stone or stone substitutes. Don`t buy water-worn limestone as it may have come from limestone pavement,a threatened natural habitat.

Save water. Install water butts under downpipes outside your house.