Heathlands are home to some of my favourite wildlife, so I love them. This wildlife can be tricky to find, so that makes me love them even more!
They are beautiful places, ablaze with yellow in spring and purple in summer. When the sun shines, they can be real heat traps and that’s exactly what we enjoyed yesterday at the RSPB’s wonderful Arne reserve in Dorset – one of the finest heathlands around (in my opinion).
This week, I thought I’d pass on some of the things that I have learned from my successes, and failures, when it comes to looking for secretive heathland birds, elusive reptiles and some very smart insects and spiders. These are just some of the stars of these special places. There are hundreds of species to find, and enjoy, though.
Meeting up with the rest of the Nature’s Home team at Arne gave me the chance to put some of my fieldcraft skills to the test and I was feeling the pressure. The team were hoping for reptiles but if it is too hot, too cold, too early or too late, you can easily see nothing at all...
Lizard loving
Sand lizards are bigger than common lizards and the males are bright green in spring! (Ben Andrew rspb-images.com)
I’ve blogged previously about adders and it was one of those days when it warmed up really quickly, meaning that the adders had almost certainly warmed up before we met up at 9am and were sheltering away deep in the heather and gorse. Sand lizards are a different matter though. Having a superb close experience with a gorgeous “spring green” male the day before, meant I was keen to see more. The green really blows you away when you see it and it is a great way of picking them out among the heather.
We drew a blank at the first piece of heath we visited. It was very flat and the cold north-easterly wind that blew straight across it meant that basking conditions just weren’t good. We needed some undulating terrain and some shelter and the north end of the reserve provided just that, with all sorts of dips and south facing slopes for lizards to enjoy.
The rustling of dried leaves might reveal the presence of a lizard, such as this male sand lizard (Ben Andrew rspb-images.com)
The guys were enjoying the beach and I wandered off to come face to face with... you got it, a male sand lizard. A call to Jack and everyone arrived and the little beauty continued to show – one of six I saw at Arne. Listen for rustling among the heather and then wait for them to cross a gap. If you find a basking one, stand still – and enjoy!
Scratching the itchWind is not good for Dartford warblers, but I always think a bit of heat and sunshine is. The gorse thickets around the heaths provided several of these beautiful birds singing their scratchy songs and flicking up on top.
Listen for the scratchy notes and then scan the tops of heath and gorse for the charismatic Dartford warbler (Ben Hall rspb-images.com)
Yellow gorse flowers, red-pink front and slate-grey back makes for a rather fine colour combination set against a blue sky. Top tip for Dartfords are to learn their scolding contact and alarm call and their warbler, then just sit and wait. They also follow stonechats around from time to time, so keep an eye on those significantly easier to see heathland specials which are incredibly noisy at this time of year.
Eyes to the groundKeep your eyes to the ground when you’re walking on sandy heathland tracks because a world of action is going on down there. Green tiger beetles can flip up at your feet like little jewels and I was over the moon to find the very rare heath tiger beetle on my Dorset visit. Lots of solitary bees and wasps dig their tunnels in the soft soil of the paths. Once you’ve found the holes, you just need to wait for the occupants to either come - or go!
You'll find some lovely little peaty pools in heathlands ands these are full of life. A raft spider had come out to balance on the water's surface just before we left. What a beast! Sundews, damselflies, palmate nets and much, much more could be lurking, so peer into a pond when you get the chance because there is always something to see.
The raft spider, balances on the surface of the water in peaty heathland ponds (Ben Andrew rspb-images.com)
After dark delights
The heathland nightshift includes one of our most mysterious birds: the nightjar. I thought that the bit of heath behind our bed and breakfast had some good potential, so just after nine, Jack and I headed out to get away from the road noise in the middle of the heath. Once we’d gone far enough, there it was: The distant “churring” of a male nightjar. We hurried round the path while there was still enough twilight for a glimpse and sure enough he was doing a few circuits, flashing the white patches on its wings and tail in the hope of catching the eye of a female. After great views of it perched in a pine, all went silent. The very clear night and plummeting temperatures told me that he was going to wait until some females arrived back from Africa, and there were a few more moths on the wing to munch on, before he put in much more effort!
The nightjar is unique in a UK context. The bristles around its beak are perfect for trapping insects (Graeme Madge rspb-images.com)
See it yourselfJune, July and August are also terrific months for heathland wildlife, so there is plenty of time yet in magic May, and beyond, for you to put your skills to the test on our heathland gems on an RSPB reserve. I hope our July Nature’s Home heathland feature will whet your appetite too. I haven’t seen it yet myself but I hope Anna, Alun and the guys have slipped in a lovely photo of a sand lizard somewhere!