Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
It’s August, so it must be the cricket season
NATURE NOTES
The only consistent thing about British weather is its inconsistency – a pleasantly warm July was followed by over an inch of rain (25mm) and high winds on the first few days of August, but it is usually a great month for strolls in the countryside.
Over the next few weeks we should see golden samphire and sea lavender on our coasts. In meadows and woodland rides, bright blue devil’s bit scabious and purple knapweed attract a variety of butterflies.
Common ragwort is feared as poisonous to horses and should be cleared from fields where they graze, but it also has its own beauty and is a member of the daisy family.
It is a food plant for caterpillars of the beautiful cinnabar moth, which helps to control it, and it also attracts great green bush crickets, which feed on the nectar.
Great green bush crickets are the largest British cricket. The females are larger than the males and may exceed two inches in length (50-55mm). They occur around the Great green bush crickets feed on ragwort nectar
coast, on the downs and at Dungeness.
Marjoram is a beautiful
plant when in flower and a useful herb. At Jumping Downs, the Barham nature reserve, it covers the lower hillside, attracting bees and butterflies including the occasional painted lady. It is a close cousin of oregano, which has a stronger taste, while both share with thyme the distinctive flavour of the chemical thymol.
On sandy soils heather is coming into bloom. The Blean, the south side of Covert Wood near Barham, Stelling Minnis and Lyminge Forest are all worth visiting to see this lovely shrub, which we usually associate with the western moors and mountains.
The heather in Covert Wood is quite spectacular where the Forestry Commission has felled trees to restore the old heathland and here on the wider rides it grows alongside devil’s bit scabious.
It looks as though it may be a good year for sweet chestnuts, with heavy blossom on most trees. Hazel also appears to be doing well, but as always it will be a battle with the squirrels.
The forecast of a poor year for butterflies appears to be coming true, apart from the large and small whites, which have been flying in huge numbers in some areas, reminding me of the days when it was my duty to pick off their caterpillars from my father’s cabbages.
I have, however, seen a few of the usual species, including brimstones, gatekeepers, meadow browns, small and large skippers, marbled whites and some newly-emerged red admirals.
Small tortoiseshells, peacocks and holly blues have been particularly scarce, but fine weather might bring out more.
Second-brood adonis blue butterflies usually appear on chalky downs around the middle of August, joining the chalkhill blues,which began to fly at the end of July. The caterpillars of both species feed on horseshoe vetch.
Checking on my chilli peppers on a flat roof I was delighted to see several goldcrests hopping along the railings. Along with firecrests, they are our smallest birds and have benefited this year from the mild winter.
Goldcrests eat small invertebrates such as insects and spiders. In gardens they often nest and roost in cypress and Leylandii trees, one of the few justifications for a few of the latter – if kept to a moderate height to avoid shading a neighbour’s garden.
Ruby-tailed wasps are remarkably beautiful solitary bees, often appearing in gardens, where they are likely to be seen chewing old wood, as well as occurring widely in the countryside.
They are also known as cuckoo wasps because the female often lays her eggs in the nest of mason bees so that her larvae can eat those of the mason bee.
Now the first of the blackberries are ripening, it’s time to stock the freezer to ensure a good supply of blackberry and apple pies.