June in the Valley...
What can you expect to see...
June is the month when everything is happening: flowers blooming, trees in leaf, insects on the wing, young being born and fed… it’s as if mother nature has pressed the rush hour button and it’s full steam ahead! June starts one of the busiest periods of the year for wildlife watchers when butterflies, dragonflies and flowers are all at their best.
Hedgerows will be laden with white, sweet-smelling Elder flowers. The flower heads are a great attraction to hoverflies, beetles and wasps; spend some time just watching all the activity. Also just coming into flower is the Guelder Rose, Viburnum opulus. Although they have little scent take a close look at the flower heads which has small central flowers surrounded by larger sterile florets designed to make the plant more alluring and to attract pollinators. 
There are many different butterflies on the wing this month. Look out for the Common Blue, Speckled Wood and Silver-spotted Blue our butterfly of the month. Also look for the moth-like Dingy Skipper and the black and scarlet flashed wings of the Cinnabar, a day-flying moths.
It’s the ideal time to go pond watching at one of the Valley’s many smaller water bodies. Although there are a large number of lakes in the Valley the small ponds provide a subtlely different habitat as the shallow, well-vegetated water can support many species that find the larger deep lakes unsuitable. Dragonflies in particular often prefer these smaller ponds for laying eggs. Look out for the Broad Bodied Chaser,  which prefers newly created and ephemeral ponds. The male (left) is easily recognisable by its broad but flatish pale blue body with a line of yellow dots along each side. The all-yellow female will only lay her eggs in small ponds and carefully places each individual egg onto the surface of the water with her abdomen.
Another June dragonfly to look out for is the Four Spotted Chaser, an all-brown species with two dark spots on each wing (yes dragonflies do have four wings making eight spots in all but…). It’s present throughout the Valley and found in a variety of habitats including bogs, heathland ponds, canals ponds and lakes. This month deer will be leaving their young hiding in dense undergrowth. As deer can be found all along the Valley please keep your dog on a lead and leave fawns well alone as their mother will be nearby.
Fox cubs should have been weaned off their mother’ milk and hedgehogs will be busy trying to find a mate. Young hedgehogs will be born in the middle of this month, with bats towards the end of the month, you can see the adults flying at dusk. Grey squirrels will be having a second litter as will blackbirds and thrushes.
At this time of year use your ears as well as your eyes, many of our resident birds, as well as the summer migrants, are often more easily heard than seen. In woodland areas listen out for the Great Spotted Woodpecker, our bird of the month. The small warblers are extremely well camouflaged but the males sing loudly. Rowhill Nature Reserve is a good place to hear the distinctive notes of the Chiffchaff. The songs of other warblers need an expert to separate. The Blackcaps and Whitethroats may be identified if you catch a glimpse of them in the bushes.
Young ducklings can often be seen on the lakes and river. Mallard and Tufted Duck are the common breeding ducks in the Valley.The cuckoo should be here but they seem to be a declining species as are the starling and sparrow.
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