Remember to keep dogs on a lead during the bird breeding season (1st March to 31st July) and avoid nesting birds, particularly those that nest on the ground such as curlew, lapwing and grouse.

Birds:

From the coast to the hill and mountain tops, birds are busy breeding and feeding their young. A pair of great tits can feed more than 10,000 caterpillars to their young, each pair flying at least 100km to collect them!

The canary-like yellowhammer is a farmland bird worth seeking out. Listen out for its song which goes like “a-little-bit-of-bread-and no-cheese” sung from a tree or hedgerow perch.

Linnets, goldfinches and greenfinches all add to the June sounds with their twittering and rasping songs and these resident birds are augmented by summer visitors such as whitethroats and other warblers.

House martins are busy catching insects on the wing to feed their young in the large cup-like nests made of mud under the eves of houses.  They are easily distinguished from swifts by their white bellies and stubbier bodies.

Swallows find easy pickings skirting low over meadows and pastures and when the clouds are dark and low the flies are forced down and the swallows follow them.

Mammals:

In the warm midsummer nights look out for badgers and bats.

June is the best month to see fox cubs playing with their siblings and parents. As they grow bigger they become more adventurous and frisky. Fox cubs often emerge above ground before dusk, eager to get outside and play. You may hear the cubs before seeing them as they make a lot of noise!

Amphibians And Reptiles:

The first of the young frog and toadlets leave the ponds. Also keep an eye out for adult newts leaving their breeding sites as they feed on land. Newt tadpoles can be found in weed around the edges of ponds and they look just like adult newts but with fluffy gills sticking out of the side of their heads.

Natterjack toads sit around the edges of shallow ponds and scrapes in the sand dunes between Hightown and Ainsdale and call to attract mates. The noise can be heard up to a mile away! They are distinguished by having a yellow stripe down their backs

Invertebrates:

The mayflies are still around in early June and are joined by a myriad of other flying insects. Rivers, streams and ponds are alive with damselflies and dragonflies. By mid June all damselfly species will have emerged as adults. Look out for the brightly-coloured banded demoiselles, which have wide-wings, the males having metallic blue-green bodies with a dark band across the wings, whereas the females are emerald green with no wing bands.

Butterflies and a host of other insects are searching for pollen and nectar. The length of the grass can determine which butterflies are able to breed.  If the grass is long then meadow browns and skippers can be abundant, whereas the common blue and small copper require short grassland with the right species of wildflowers upon which they can lay their eggs.

In the warm midsummer nights look out for moths.

Plants:

Foxgloves are a distinctive feature of the countryside while brambles and honeysuckles flower in the hedgerows.

Orchids appear in wet grassland or on dry limestone soils whilst vetches and daisies grow in profusion in meadows and pastures. Cliff tops are adorned with sea pinks and sea campions, whilst woodland flowers are starting to produce seeds.

As the cow parsley flowers fade and set seed, the larger-leaved hogweed and upright hedge-parsley take its place. Look out for the orange soldier beetles and a host of other insects feeding on hogweed.

Orchids, such as the bee, common spotted, fragrant, and pyramidal orchids come into bloom in June.

Water mint, water forget-me-not and brooklime are all attractive plants with small flowers that can be found around ponds, along streams and ditches and in other wet areas.

Also look out for bird’s-foot-trefoil, oxeye daisy, red campion, meadow crane’s-bill and yellow flag iris.