What To Look For In August
Lizards, dragonflies, early scary mushrooms, disappearing birds, burgeoning Bilberries and Devil's-bit Scabious. The quiet month.
When Sheffield’s younger children looked out the school window towards the end of the sixth wettest English July in the record books, you could imagine them wondering about their prospects of a ‘summer’ holiday.
The story goes that August was selected as school holiday month in the early education acts over 100 years ago so farming communities could rely on child labour for the early harvests. Certainly August was harvest season 1,000 years ago, when priest and scholar Byrhtferth of Ramsay Abbey declared that autumn began on August 7th in his ‘Manual’ of 1011. More recently Chris Packham and friends have spurned the idea of Summerwatch too, either because it’s not that interesting or they’re busy in other sunspots around the world.
Neverthless, our friends from Sorby Natural History Society, the RSPB Sheffield Group, Sheffield Bird Study Group and Sheffield Museums have come up with a few ideas of plants and wildlife to look out for this month. So thanks to them, with a special mention to Roger Butterfield, Bob Russon, Andy Deighton, Chris Kelly and Colin Dixon for their wonderful photos.
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Devil's-bit Scabious
You’ll see all kinds of butterflies visiting this bright plant of damp meadows and stream sides just now, ignorant of the plant’s history. Scabious is from the Latin for scratch, as the plant was used for skin conditions like scabies and the sores from bubonic plague. The Devil’s-bit part comes from the plant’s short dark roots, said to have been bitten off one day by the devil, angry at how the plant was being used to sooth plague victims.
Common Lizards
Lizards need to warm up in the early sun before they can spend a day catching insects, snails and spiders using their variable camouflage before pouncing. They’re also a prey item for many birds, so the camouflage helps there too, as well as their ability to shed their tail if grabbed by a predator.
Watch for them early on warm days, says photographer Bob Russon, when we finally get some sun. (He found the one above on a wall by the top Redmires reservoir).
Amanita Mushrooms
The Amanita family of mushrooms are often big and spectacular, like the Fly Agaric above. But many are poisonous, warns our mushroom photographer Chris Kelly. “Treat with caution,” she says. “Hands washed if you touch one, and definitely no eating.”
The Fly Agaric and the Grey Spotted Amanita (above) are found in many local woodlands, the stem ring and a bulbous base helps to identify these mushrooms.
Traditionally they start to appear a bit later in the year, Chris says, but our very wet July appears to be launching them early this August.
Dragonflies
There are still plenty of dragonflies and damselflies around, and warmer sunnier days will bring them out in greater numbers, on local ponds and rivers. Watch out for them by the canal too.
And if you’re out at dusk or dawn, watch out for bats feeding towards the end of this year’s breeding cycle.
Broad-leaved Helleborine Orchid
Scientists have found ingredients similar to opioids, along with alcohol in these tall pink and yellow orchids that can be seen along woodland paths in August. They’ve also found chemicals smelling like the prey of insects like wasps, who are then drawn in planning to eat aphids, or plant their parasitic larvae inside caterpillars.
When the curious wasps or bees find no prey, the alcohol and drugs they find instead leaves them buzzing around in a drunken stupor banging their heads into the flower’s pollen, ready to spread to the next Broad-leaved Helleborine they find.
The plant’s seeds can find their way into pavement cracks as well as the mud by woodland trails, but their slow growth (while they try to find underground fungi to help them grow tall ) means they might be cut down or stomped on before they get the chance to flower and concoct their amazing insect intoxicants again.
Swifts and Swallows
The growing interest in local Swifts means many of us have been watching these spectacular birds screaming around our rooftops this summer. But now’s the time they disappear from our skies - many may have already set off for Africa.
I’m told they wait for northerly winds, as we’ve seen recently, but will also fly so high they can avoid some of the terrible weather conditions we endure at ground level.
Swallows hang on for a while longer however, and older readers may remember dozens of young Swallows born in the Peak District congregating on telephone wires in summers past. One birdwatcher tells me he thinks Swallows have declined even more than Swifts, but there are still a few to be seen, the young practising their flying skills before the long journey south in a few weeks.
Grisettes
Another mushrooms from the Amanita family taking advantage of our wet weather, growing out of the leaf litter, often in Birch woodland. The Orange Grisette is the most spectacular, with an apricot coloured cap.
Cinnabar Moth Caterpillars
These spectacular caterpillars were once known as ‘Football Jerseys’ back when football teams went for bright colours rather than sponsorship deals. It’s a member of the Tiger Moth family, and eats the bright yellow Ragwort plant, where you can see it now on waste ground, meadows and moorland edges.
Bilberries
It’s Bilberry season, when years ago whole families would spend a weekend afternoon gathering these prolific berries for pies and jam. I’m piecing a feature together on this local delicacy, so if you remember picking them in the past, or have any other Bilberry stories to tell, do get back to me at: bbobillsmothers@gmail.com
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