Flitch Way wildlife to watch in August
Blackberry
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Blackberry or Bramble (Rubus fruticosus) is one of the most important food plants for other wildlife in Britain. Over 150 species of invertebrate use it as a food plant, including sawflies, aphids, scale insects, beetles, butterflies (including Green Hairstreak and Holly Blue) and moths. It is also an important plant for small mammals. Blackberries contain antioxidants and important nutrients including potassium, magnesium and calcium, as well as vitamins A, C, E and most of our B vitamins.
Historically, they used to be planted on top of graves to keep sheep off and to create boundary fences. According to legend, you should not eat the berries after Michelmas Day (29 September) as the devil has ruined them. |
Scarlet Pimpernel
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The Scarlet Pimpernel has bright red (or sometimes pink) flowers borne singly on long, square stalks with oval shaped leaves between May and October. The leaves closely resemble those of chickweed and you can find it growing close to the ground in grassland, waste and arable land.
Make sure you look for it in the morning as it closes up in the afternoon. This feature led to its other names of ‘Old man's weathervane' or 'Shepherd's weather-glass' as the flowers also close when atmospheric pressure falls and bad weather approaches. |
Also look out for
Common Earthball
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The Common Earthball is a fungi that usually appears between August and November. It is often found inhabiting moss-clad or grassy ground under trees in woodland, or on scrubby ground. It forms beneficial relationships with tree and plant roots. The fungus resembles a potato, and is a browny-yellow, sometimes pale or cream-white, roundish, ball-shape. It appears to sit directly on the ground, though it is attached by cord-like threads. Thick, tough and scaly, it can grow to a width of 12 centimetres, although the majority of specimens are somewhat smaller. Huge numbers of tiny, dust-like brownish-black spores contained within the ball are released to be carried away on the breeze when, with age, the outer skin ruptures and splits. |
Six-spot Burnet Moth
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The Six-Spot Burnet moth can be identified by the six red spots on black wings, though occasionally the spots can be yellow and sometimes can be fused.
It can be seen in flight from June to August in meadows, woodland rides and road verges, feeding on flowers such as Knapweeds, Thistles and Scabious. The caterpillar feeds mainly on Bird’s-foot-trefoil. |
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