Nature Notes – October 2024

By Andy Johnston

The Met’ Office forecast for this summer, was that it was would be amongst the hottest ever! During the 2nd week of July, many of you were finding your central heating kicking in due to a cool northerly airstream and cloudy weather. A week later we had the hottest day of the year (31°C). These fluctuating extremes have become a feature of our changing climate, so it is hardly surprising that nature has been affected.

Butterflies and insects have been amongst the losers, and it was not until the middle of September that they started to appear, but in small numbers. Butterfly Conservation have released the details of their count which indicates what a poor year it has been for the butterflies. However, we will not have a clear picture until the outcome of the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme, which will give a more detailed and accurate, scientifically based set of results.

Curlew and lapwing are back on fields near Morton Bridge, traditional feeding grounds for these birds. Those of you with bird feeders may be familiar with the large female sparrowhawk which roams the village. Elizabeth Davies wondered whether this sparrow hawk was responsible for the demise of a small kitten that regularly visited her garden.