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The information on this page is intended to highlight specific features within the nature reserve
that would be of interest to the visitor.
To provide additional information on a subject, we frequently provide links from this page
to webpages produced by other organisations.
Note also that some links take you to websites to listen to recordings of bird sounds.
These links will only work if your computer has the necessary audio features.
To view a different period, click on the appropriate link in the table below.
Interesting Features to be seen in
August |
| Bramble bushes act as a magnet for wildlife in August. Many are still in flower,
attracting butterflies and other insects, and later in the month there will be
blackberries, providing food for birds.
The widening of main ride in Sulehay has encouraged the growth of many other
nectar sources, such as
teasel and
lesser burdock.
Butterflies attracted to these include
gatekeeper,
ringlet,
large skipper,
small skipper,
peacock,
small tortoiseshell,
meadow brown,
painted lady,
comma,
large white,
red admiral,
and the occasional
white admiral.
The abundant insects attract predators such as dragonflies, especially migrant hawkers and
brown hawkers .
If you see a crowd of dragonflies circling in a group, they
are probably migrant hawkers. The brown hawkers are larger and will take butterflies. |
| Several tall grasses are in flower along the rides. These include the elegant drooping
woodland brome (Bromus ramosa), the bushy heads of
wood small reed
(Calamagrostis epigejos) and
the finer textured clumps of tufted hair grass (Deschampsia cespitosa).
Nettle leaved bellflowers
continue to give a good show, accompanied by great willow herb,
hedge parsley and
greater burnet saxifrage
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| Birds tend to be quiet at this time of the year, as many of them are moulting, but you are
likely to come across young tits, wrens and woodpeckers. Sparrow hawks, tawny owls and
hobbies may still be feeding young. |
| In the quarry the
marjoram is making
a good show. It is worth looking into the small dells filled with these mauve flowers
on breezy days, as the butterflies will be gathered there. In addition to the butterfly
species in the forest (listed earlier), you may also find
common blue (the wing tops
are bright blue, but the
underwing
is brown with elaborate markings) and
brown argus.
Other flowers to be seen in the quarry include basil thyme,
blue fleabane,
eyebright and
some late vipers bugloss.
The
old man’s beard
(traveller's-joy, Clematis vitalba L.)
is also in full flower making a wonderful show as it trails over other plants and fences.
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