July was, for the most part, a hoped for hot summer month, with many days experiencing long periods of hot sunshine. This in turn made it one of the best months for many years for the number of butterflies and dragonflies.
Starting off with the flying insects, there were records of eighteen species of butterfly on the park during the month. Gatekeepers were particularly abundant, being found along the pathways and on the edges of the new meadows. They were seen with smaller numbers of Ringlets and the similarly abundant Meadow Browns. One of the most attractive of the small butterflies is the Common Blue. Several Common Blues were seen on the northern park at the end of the month, while a single Holly Blue was around the favoured ivy covered trees by the Western Site of Specific Scientific Interest (SSSI) on 26 July.
The three white butterflies, Small, Large and Green-veined were all in excellent numbers, with clouds of them drifting over the new meadows on the northern park on sunny days from mid-month onwards. But it was the massed emergence and further arrivals of Painted Ladies which really stole the show at the end of July. There were hundreds of these superb insects on the wing with day counts of up to 30 on the park. Along with them were brilliant coloured Red Admirals and Peacocks and the odd Small Tortoiseshell. The second brood of Speckled Woods also emerged along with odd Comma’s- another superb and intensely coloured butterfly. Completing the list of species were Wall Brown, Large and Small Skipper and Small Copper.
Dragonflies also had a good month. Black-tailed Skimmers continued to patrol the new ponds on the northern part of the park- often resting on the pathways before darting off on the approach of a walker. This species is a notable colonist of new shallow ponds. It has made a dramatic northward spread in Britain in the last ten years, which may be associated with warmer summers. Brown Hawkers do not occur each year in the clay pits but they are regular in years with long hot spells of weather in mid-summer. Therefore, it was no surprise to find up to four individuals patrolling the edges of the new plantations from 12 July onwards. Ruddy Darters also emerged from 12 July, and by 20 July, Common Darters were becoming very common. The first Migrant Hawker of the year was an early individual on 18 July, but there were already 10+ on the wing by 26 July. This is the commonest of the large hawker dragonflies in the area and can be seen patrolling around the tops of the trees and over the young plantations within the park. It also occurs in gardens and well away from water, over fields and along hedgerows when it reaches peak abundance in August.
On the breeding bird front, species had a mixed season. Unfortunately no young Little Ringed Plovers were reared on site in 2003. Although three pairs laid eight clutches of eggs, all were lost to predators or egg collectors. A pair from a more successful locality did appear with a fledged youngster though on July 13. All seven of the young Ringed Plovers did fledge successfully and all left the area by 4 July. Waterfowl have had a varied season; the Greylag and Canada Geese reared 23 and 13 young respectively but it was the worst year for three years for all species of duck. Even the usually prodigious Coot only managed to raise 34 young. Little Grebes are still nesting but only four young have fledged thus far. A brood of five young hatched on the new Pond A south about 20 July. Low water levels and the hot weather may have been involved in the poor breeding success of the duck population. More happily, the local pair of Kestrels reared three young with all of the youngsters being on the wing by 22 July.
Migration is still at a low key in July, but waders are the first group to be on the move. There were records of up to three Green and Common Sandpipers, Redshank and a roosting flock of up to 57 Lapwing recorded during the period.
Up to three juvenile Cormorants were practicing their fishing in the waters of the new pond on the northern site. The water was so shallow they hardly managed to submerge and presumably also failed to catch any fish! Bitterns were still being seen occasionally and Kingfishers became more regular.
A Hobby over the northern pools on 2 July was seen off by the local Common Terns but they scattered quickly when a pair of Peregrines were hunting the area on 24 July. Until very recently, a summer record of Peregrine would have been extremely unusual, but the species bred in North Lincolnshire for the first time in 2003. Summering birds are increasing in number, so further summer sightings may become the norm.
A pair of Common Terns with two fledged young were on the new lagoons on a few dates late in the month. Up to ten adult terns were often in the area displaying and fish carrying. More unusual was the record of three Sandwich Terns flying west on the evening of 13 July, with another two over the park on 29 July. Good numbers of House Martins and Swallows could be seen daily, feeding over the new meadows. Sand Martins started their early autumn build up with 32 resting on the tarmac road on the evening of 20 July. The rich feeding in the developing meadows attracted good numbers of finches with 33 Linnets and 20 Greenfinches on some days. Finally, a flock of 36 House Sparrows was a good record of this declining species.
Five species of bat were detected on the evening of 29 July. Noctules were flying high over the northern ponds, whilst Daubenton’s bats were skimming low over the water of the eastern SSSI. Brown long-eared bats and both Common and Soprano Pipistrelles were taking insects around the trees. Water Voles were very active in all the ponds while no-one could help but be amused by the antics of the large shoals of fish swimming under the Coots and Mallard waiting for the daily supply of bread at the first bridge.