Written by Eloise Jenninger - Community Ecologist Intern

Early August, on an Odonata survey, we were set to count damselflies and dragonflies for our second time. The first day we tried, a storm broke out so there had been no option but to cancel. This time, we were hoping that it would be a better day. For an odonata survey, we were supposed to have at least 60% of sun. A cloud cover and a light breeze could easily discourage any adventurous damselfly. 

Unfortunately, that was exactly what happened. The only Odonata we saw was one single southern hawker. Most of the ponds had dried up as well, not the best conditions…

However, we were in the middle of our survey when Sam passed me the binoculars, pointing at an owl box. I focussed the binoculars on it. Mostly darkness. When, slowly, what looked like a black eye appeared from the right. Then, a second eye glided in: A head! clearly belonging to a barn owl stared at us. She then jumped out of the box in an instant. A few seconds later, another owl followed. They flew away magically towards the woods.

Another surprise came up when I went on a dormice survey. It was the first time that dormice nest boxes had been installed in that forest so we didn’t know what to expect. After removing the wire to access the box, we would put a piece of textile in the back of the box before opening it, so that if there were dormice, they wouldn't escape and we would be able to count them. It was a bit of a lottery game. First one? Nothing. Second one? Nothing. Third one? A buzzing sound “Bzzzzzz” seemed to be coming out of it. Do. Not. Open. The. Box. A wasp swarm had made it their home. Quietly, we removed the textile and closed the box shut. 

A slightly more ominous surprise was in our next box. Hoping for it to be the lucky one… We were eager to open it, gently and carefully. I saw a ruffled up feather. A bird? Yes and no… A dead one.

Next box. Still nothing. The one after felt like it would have something good inside it… Hopefully, I undid the wire around the box. Opening the lid, slowly, when right in there, the tiniest of creatures looked at me as if I had just disturbed them in the middle of their nap. No dormice but a tiny shrew in a cosy cotton-like bed made of leaves and grass. Shrews are mostly nocturnal. With their crazy morning hair, they looked like we had just woken them up. Shrews are the second most common mammal in the UK, but I had never seen one before. I also learnt that they have a lifespan of around 12 months and mostly eat insects, as well as earthworms, slugs, and snails. 

Of course, many surveys go the way you expect them to. One of the earliest ones I went on was a Butterflies and Bumblebees survey. It was wonderful. We observed white-tiled bumblebees, ringlets , meadow brown butterflies and many skippers which appeared as small orange butterflies.

At the beginning of July, I went on an Orthoptera survey (grasshoppers and crickets). Whilst walking, hundreds of grasshoppers would jump from all sides. The moment we would put the quadrat box down, however, we would count less than 10! It seemed like they knew exactly when to disappear. Most of the grasshoppers we observed were meadow grasshoppers. They’re the ones with black/brown knees. Males often display to females by rubbing their legs against their wings to create a 'song', is a regular 'rrrr' sound, a bit like an electric razor.

Another highlight of the last few months was a Moth survey in the new forest. For moth surveys, waking up early is a must. Lizzie Laybourne, Nature-Based Solutions Officer at the Trust had set up the moth trap the previous evening, so moths would be attracted by the light during the night. We captured over a hundred moths, including a couple odd invertebrates and predators such as a spider… One of my favourite moths was a scallop moth, called like that, as can be easily guessed because it looked like a scallop shell. But my actual favourite was the Spectacle moth. It looked like it was wearing glasses or binoculars 

On top of those species, I learnt that micro moths are hard to identify. They’re tiny and there are a lot of them, so you need to have a magnifying glass and ID guides to identify them properly. Thankfully, the app ObsIdentify helped us lower the amount of possible species. It is not 100% accurate, but it did give us an idea of where to look in the ID guide.

These surveys have been a great reminder to take time to listen to the stories nature hides and to be patient. Nature will often come up with surprises for you if you are attentive and a little bit lucky!