June is a very busy month for our wildlife and after such a cold slow start to the year everything is happening at once.

I had planned to mention all our fabulous flowers and wildlife and the glories of our wildlife Spring – instead  a small common bird just won’t let me ignore it!.

1. Birds of the month the house martins,swallows, and now the swifts!
 These amazing birds spend nearly their whole life on the wing and have now returned from southern Africa to scream round our church spires – it is little wonder a more religious age called them  ‘the devils birds’ !
2. Flower of the month:
The bluebell. Many of our small woods are now  a glorious haze of blue. The wild blue bell ( much more elegant than the garden Spanish’ bluebell) 
is a truly British flower,  thanks the warm wet winds  we receive from the Atlantic west!   It is absent from the dryer colder continent.
3.Mammal of the month:
Badgers; 
This is the month when cubs emerge above ground for the first time and if you are lucky enough to see them playing in the evening near their set it is one of the highlights of the natural year.
4. Insect of the month: the Orange Tip butterfly,  they can now be seen along our country lanes looking for ‘Jack by the Hedge’ to to lay its eggs and start a new generation. The ‘orange tips’ are only on the male, the female look  much more like a cabbage white - till she closes her wings and you see the lovely damask patterned under wings.
 
Les C
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Pictured on today's butterfly walk

Near the bridge into the caves car  park I saw the flash of a black and white tail - a  Wheatear!  It was only passing  through.  They come up from sub Saharan Africa about now on their way to upland areas of  Wales or Exmoor, but it could go as far as Norway or even Iceland. A huge journey for such a small bird. Just  for an afternoon delighted me with its company.
	I wonder if any of you will hear the cuckoo this spring – they very rarely heard  near our village these days .  Ham Walls on the levels is a good bet.
The Wells SWT have a walk there on Tuesday  3rd of May, meeting in the Ashcott corner car park. at 7.00pm (ST449397).  Ham Walls is a real hot spot for all sorts of birds and other wildlife – If you haven’t heard them before it would be a chance to hear bitterns booming!

 Les      C:    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.