Wildlife calendar August

August is a good month to look and listen out for summer’s chirpiest insects: the New Forest is home to 67 per cent of the grasshoppers and crickets that are found in Britain. On hot days the sound of their calling (‘stridulating’) fills the air.

Wood-crickets are one of only two native species of crickets in Britain, and the New Forest woodlands are one of the few places where you might be lucky enough to see them.  

Speckled and oak bush-crickets and common green, field and meadow grasshoppers are all widespread. They can be hard to spot due to their green or brown colour, but show themselves when they hop. Much rarer is the large marsh grasshopper, which is the UK’s largest grasshopper - look out for it in very wet, marshy areas.

As high summer merges into late summer, you will see that butterflies are still on the wing. On heathland you might spot grayling, peacock, silver-studded blue and small heath. Brimstone, red admiral, silver-washed fritillary, white admiral, speckled wood and gatekeeper butterflies prefer woodland areas.

Black ants emerge and swarm when they search for a new place to colonise. The females have temporary wings which they bite off after their short flight.

For the next few weeks heather will be in full bloom on the heathlands. Cross-leaved heath and bell heather are still in flower too. In wetland areas, look for the intense blue, trumpet-shaped blooms of the rare marsh gentian. Marsh St John’s wort, mints, sundews and bog asphodel are also flowering in the valley mires and other boggy places.

As well as adult reptiles you might now see young slow-worms, lizards and snakes, which are most likely to be spotted early in the morning when the sun is still warming the ground.

This is also a great month to visit the National Park’s 26 miles of coastline and look for goby fish, shrimps, crabs, sea anemones, snails and shellfish.