Summer wildlife

As we humans slow down and relax in the sunshine, insects, mammals and birds must do their utmost to find food and rear their young while the weather is clement.
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Insects
The lazy bumblebee is a welcome sign of summer - but sadly this welcome does not extend to many other insects. The steady drone of the common house fly (Musca domestica) is rarely met with pleasure and in warm weather, the fly's life-cycle (egg to adult) takes only eight days. Add this to the fact that in just two weeks one fly can lay more than 1000 eggs, and it is easy to understand why so many flies buzz around your house in the summer months.

Wasps are an intrinsic, if unwanted, part of summer. They lurk by outdoor pools and picnic tables, intimidating all who have suffered their painful sting. Nest sizes and populations increase throughout the summer as the large Queens produce more and more worker broods until finally, in late summer, the Queens lay the eggs that will develop into fertile females - next year's generation of Queens.

The chirping of crickets late in the evening is a more pleasing sign that summer has arrived. These long-legged relatives of the grasshopper perch in hedgerows and can often be spotted around our rivers and canals, but you have to look closely. Natural camouflage successfully conceals the cricket from most predators - and aspiring entomologists.

Birds
For waterway aficionados, the common inhabitants of our rivers and canals (mallards, moorhens, swans etc) are a familiar sight. In the midsummer months you may find yourself wondering where all of the colourful drakes (male mallards) have gone. A quirk peculiar to ducks means that they moult all of their flight feathers at the same time, leaving them grounded and exceedingly vulnerable to predators. Evolution has guaranteed some protection by ensuring the drake's bright feathers are replaced by dowdier brown ones - which give them a distinctly female appearance.

As summer progresses, look out for the curious spectacle of a moorhen 'family' - complete with ungainly teenagers as well as more appealing new-born chicks. Dedicated moorhen parents raise two or three broods of offspring every season and, surprisingly, young 'teenagers' from earlier broods tend to stick around to help their parents with subsequent hatchlings. A shining example of family spirit!

Numerous bird species, including the common blackbird and robin, use hedgerows to raise their young - making them reasonably easy to spot. Dedicated bird-watchers should head north to Scotland for a glimpse of osprey chicks.

In late summer, large groups of swallows and martins will gather around the UK in preparation for their long flights to Africa.

Mammals
Spring is the time to look out for new-born lambs, calves and cubs. Throughout the summer these appealing youngsters will grow in strength and independence until they become indistinguishable from the older generation.
The weaning of badger cubs takes place from the end of May to the beginning of June. Watch out for patches of grassland marked with small, freshly-dug holes - a sign that badger cubs have enjoyed an overnight feeding expedition. Fox cubs first emerge from the earth in April and by August most are able to forage and fend for themselves.

Red deer, Britain's largest mammals, continue calving throughout late spring and early summer - though calves born earlier enjoy the best chances of survival. Stags (male deer) live happily together in large groups until August, at which time they start to become intolerant of each other as they prepare for the autumn rutting season. In late summer, stags boast a fully grown 'rack' of antlers and their necks increase in size - a majestic spectacle.