Fragments of the garden

Weather permitting, summer days are for lounging in grassy meadows. Tony Whitehead, Devon-based naturalist, finds a wealth of life while enjoying a sunny afternoon on his local common…

HIGH summer, and a red admiral butterfly drifts by on a gentle breeze. I’m sitting in long grass at the highest point on our local common, just past Ipplepen, north of Totnes. Through the haze I can just make out Hay Tor some 20 miles to the north west, and a little nearer, Denbury Camp with its wooded summit.

Above me a couple of buzzards soar lazily on a rising column of warm air - it’s past midday. One bird is dark, the other light. For a moment I check the lighter bird through binoculars thinking it might be something else - but no, just one of the pale forms of these remarkably variable birds - in France they are called Buse variable. The lower darker bird makes its way down to one of the fields alongside the Ambrook, hunting for small animals, carrion or, more often than not, worms and beetles.


SUMMER COLOUR:
A red admiral butterfly

As I lose sight of the buzzard, a green woodpecker flies down from a high perch to the short grass behind me. In colour, these birds are quite exotic - bright olive green bodies and scarlet red caps. They are not uncommon in the south west, and, if you've a big lawn, you may have seen them searching the turf for ants - their long sticky tongues designed perfectly for plucking unsuspecting prey from the ground.

For ants, summer is their season. In July they start their mass nuptial flights; winged males and queens taking to the air in search of mates from neighbouring colonies. Once finished, the males fly off to die while the queens wait until the following summer to start their own colonies

Making the most of these flights, and other winged insects, are swallows, one of which flies from out of the sun to where I’m sitting, its distinctive glossy blue back catching the light as it turns. With hungry young to feed, these birds scoop up insects with their large mouths, not unlike a whale feasting on plankton, and on returning to their nest, regurgitate a sort of puréed bug pate to waiting and eager mouths.

As I watch the swallow dip behind a blackthorn, my attention is grabbed by what sounds like a bicycle freewheeling down a hill. It’s difficult at first to locate where it’s coming from, but a determined search finds our ‘cyclist’ head down along a branch of bramble - a male great green bush cricket, or Tettigonia viridissima if you prefer. And viridissima it certainly is - bright glossy green, and very large. It’s one of the largest UK insects.

The males make the sound. In our great green (and other crickets) this is produced by wings being rubbed together - grasshoppers rub their legs quickly against the body to make the noise. And, in case you were wondering, the easiest way to tell the two apart is that crickets have long antennae and grasshoppers have short ones.

I stoop over the bramble, where the cricket has now fallen silent. He really is quite something - and not that common either. In the UK their population is confined largely to the south coast, with south Devon being a particular stronghold. Listen out for them as you drive the Devon and Cornwall lanes. Once you ‘get your ear in’ to the sound, they really are obvious.

As I'm pondering the male, I notice the female nearby, her long sword-like tail giving a rather aggressive appearance. There's no need to feel threatened, though - the sword is an ovipositor and used to lay eggs in the ground.

So, three hours and I’ve hardly moved more than 30 yards. I’ve not even mentioned the plants, the marjoram with its sweet scent or the gorse seeds popping in the heat. Or the hoverflies. Or the adder...

There’s a web of life spun out across this little patch. All these are as Edward Thomas wrote ‘the fragments of the things that are embroidered on the great garment’.



WANT TO KNOW MORE?
If you are interested in bugs and birds, why not take part in the RSPB’s Big Bug Count in June? For a pack and full details contact 0870 787 5577. To find out more about great green bush crickets and other backyard biodiversity in Devon and Cornwall, contact John Heywood at the Devon Wildlife Trust on 01392 279244.

Tony Whitehead is available to lead wildlife walks for community groups in Devon and Cornwall. For availability and charges, please contact 01803 814068.