The exceptionally wet weather of the first five months of 2024 created a number of garden rainfall records, with 15.1 inches of rain (over 380mm) falling during this period, more than fell in the whole of 1996 and almost as much as fell in 2011. The second half of the year is usually wetter than the first half, so more records are likely to fall. The first week of June was the driest since January but, apart from a pleasant, sunny day on the 2nd, was also very cool with northerly winds setting in and continuing into the second week, when daytime temperatures dropped even further (13C max. on the 10th) and the rain returned. All this meant that insect activity, in particular, was very low - butterflies were only present in very small numbers and only seen occasionally with temperatures too low for them to fly. However, the second half of the month was warmer and culminated in a mini-heatwave between the 24th and the 26th, with temperatures climbing to the giddy heights of 30C. Summer had arrived! It couldn't last, of course, and by the start of July we had a return to unseasonably cold weather and heavy rain.
For this month only I'll divide my observations up into three sections: birds and mammals, flora and invertebrates.
Birds and Mammals
Birds can cope with cool, wet weather better than invertebrates, but those that feed on invertebrates of the flying kind will still struggle, so on the 4th I was pleased to find at least one Spotted Flycatcher in the same area of Therfield Heath woodland that it had been seen in on 20 May. A Reed Warbler was also seen on The Heath (Old Rifle Range) on the same day. I record this species (inevitably a singing male) locally on average two out of every three years, so this was not a big surprise, although the habitat is not suitable for them to stay for more than a day or two. Tawny Owls do very well in the local area, and this year the closest pair to me did magnificently well to fledge three young, which I saw at dusk on the 2nd, sitting together on a dead tree. Unfortunately, it was too dark for photographic confirmation, because raising three Tawny young to fledging is quite a rare event. On the down side, the male that regularly hooted at night from trees at the bottom of my road in 2022-23 has not been heard this year and there was no sign of Little Owls at their only known nesting site in my area. Owls were to the fore again when I went for a late evening walk up the Icknield Way on the 10th. A Barn Owl suddenly appeared ahead of me and flew in a circle before disappearing to the west: my first local sighting of this species in 2024. Other local bird sightings included a Raven over the garden on the 5th and a family group of Marsh Tits (at least one juvenile) at Scales Park (Anstey) on the 11th. I believe that this species is regularly monitored at Scales Park, one of the few surviving areas of woodland in North Hertfordshire where it can still be found. Very locally, I have seen a couple of family parties of Long-tailed Tits and a juvenile Great Tit. On the 13th a small family of Blue Tits (two young) visited the garden - the first that I have seen this year. A young Blackbird was also seen in the garden, my first of the year - perhaps a sign that the cold, wet weather has been more of a factor in breeding success than the ready supply of earthworms and other soil-based invertebrates. On the same day, three singing Lesser Whitethroats were heard on my way up to The Heath. It is unusual for them still to be singing at this time of year: had they failed to find a partner or had their first nesting attempt failed?
A family of Barn Owls were the star attraction on an RSPB Local Group visit to Fowlmere, my local RSPB reserve in South Cambridgeshire on the 12th. Marsh Harriers have also bred on the reserve (we had a few sightings) and we saw a pair of Spotted Flycatchers here. From a photographic point of view, however, a Reed Warbler that posed in front of the main hide was my favourite. Two families of Coot were seen at Phillup's Lake on the 20th. A pair of Canada Geese and 28 Mallard (including many young) were also present here, whilst a Little Grebe was seen and heard. Eleven Swallows, including fledged young, were hawking insects over fields not far from the house on the 28th, whilst a pair of Corn Buntings were on territory even closer to the house. The pair of Marsh Harriers at RSPB Fowlmere (about six miles from me as the crow flies) apparently fledged one young towards the end of the month.
Flora
"It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good" - Shakespeare. My tomato plants may be doing very badly outdoors this year, but the cool, wet spring and early summer has benefited many temperate plants, in particular grasses, with the resultant luxuriant vegetation reaching new heights and depths. Orchids definitely benefited: Bee Orchids seemed to be everywhere, including places where I have never seen them before, whilst I counted an impressive 44 spikes of Fragrant Orchid at the top of Church Hill, as I was getting drenched in a rainstorm on the 11th. Most White Helleborines had finished, but one or two on the north side of Fox Covert had yet to flower when I checked on the 11th. Several Common Spotted Orchids could be seen on the main ride at Scales Park, Anstey (where a Pyramidal Orchid was seen). Ox-eye Daisies were everywhere. Towards the end of the month I found four Pyramidal Orchid spikes in different parts of The Heath: last year I didn't see any. Many plants that were expected to flower in July (Field Scabious, Knapweed) were already flowering in early June. However, an early flowering season, combined with the late emergence of pollinating invertebrates, does not necessarily augur well for plants or pollinators: we will see.
Invertebrates
Many butterflies have had a torrid time this year. Spring visits to The Heath on the few occasions when it has been warm enough for flight have revealed very low numbers, with only Small Heath being present in any quantity. It has been a particularly disappointing spring for Brown Argus. After the abundance of the second adult brood in the late summer of last year I was expecting a good showing of the first adult brood this spring, but I only saw a handful of rather ragged individuals, and no mating pairs, at sites which contained hundreds of individuals in August last year. Likewise, very small numbers of Common Blues were seen - perhaps even fewer than the heat loving Adonis Blues, which will do well to continue to survive on The Heath if conditions like these continue for another year or two (I only saw one female - image below). Interestingly, the few female Common Blues that I did see all had significant amounts of blue on their upper wings (image below) - I didn't seen any brown ones in the first generation. The last of the first generation of Common and Adonis Blues were seen on The Heath on the 26th. Holly Blues did rather better this spring, with the first generation hanging on until the beginning of July. A visit to Scales Park (Anstey) to look for Marsh Tits and orchids also provided my first local sightings of Large Skippers and (for once) I had the opportunity to photograph a pristine Brown Argus. The first Meadow Browns and Marbled Whites were seen on The Heath on the 3rd and 12th of June respectively, with the latter being recorded by others as early as the 7th. These were followed by Ringlet (20th), Dark Green Fritillary (21st), White-letter Hairstreak (24th) and Small Skipper (26th). Of these, only the Marbled Whites produced large numbers, with around 100 seen on the south side of Church Hill alone by the end of the month and (at last) giving me a relatively easy and attractive butterfly target to photograph.
