This report aims to summarise some of the notable wildlife sightings and conservation news in the New Forest National Park in June-July 2024. To contribute to future editions, please contact the New Forest Biodiversity Forum Chair (russ@wildnewforest.co.uk).
Notable wildlife sightings
Met Office data indicate that the UK experienced below average temperatures and rainfall, and average sunshine hours, in June and July, although there were a couple of short-lived warm spells, notably in the last week of July when temperatures peaked at around 30oC.
The big news in the avian world was the successful fledging in mid July of two Roseate Tern chicks from the pair that settled on Normandy Lagoon in mid-May. A volunteer-based 24/7 surveillance programme, combined with a variety of predator management measures, all helped to ensure this successful outcome. Hi-res photos revealed that both adult birds were ringed as chicks at Rockabill (Ireland) in 2017-18, and they were subsequently seen in the eastern Solent at Titchfield Haven in late July. Normandy Lagoon also hosts other breeding tern species, and interesting colour-ring observations made by New Forest Ringing Group this summer included a Little Tern that arrived in late April and was ringed in Senegal 4500km to the south just a few weeks earlier, and a Common Tern that was ringed as a chick at Normandy Lagoon on 30 June 2021 and was recorded back there in 2023 and 2024.
Adult Roseate Tern feeding fledged juvenile on 14 July 2024 (photo: Steve Laycock)
The purple patch for Normandy Lagoon continued when a rare vagrant Long-billed Dowitcher stopped off there on 08-10 July and a migrant Black Tern was seen on 08 July. Other notable sightings in the Lymington-Hurst area included a singing Quail on 08-09 June, a Wood Sandpiper on 25 June, a Curlew Sandpiper on 31 July, impressive counts of 14 Little Ringed Plovers and 112 Avocets on 11 July, and regular reports of two Spoonbills and a Great White Egret.
Long-billed Dowitcher on 09 July 2024 (photo: Steve Laycock)
Offshore, a female Eider was seen off Normandy Marsh with three young chicks on several dates in July, indicating successful local breeding; interestingly, the species was also confirmed breeding in Cornwall for the first time this year, which becomes the only other known breeding location in southern England (see here).
Female Eider with three chicks on 10 July 2024 (photo: Steve Laycock)
Notable bird sightings from the New Forest interior included a Golden Oriole heard briefly in Denny Lodge Inclosure on 03 June, a Quail singing at Black Gutter Bottom on 30 June, a migrant Little Ringed Plover at Woodfidley Passage also on 30 June, and a Pied Flycatcher at Black Knowl on 28 July.
Invertebrate reports ramped up through the period, particularly in the short-lived periods of warmer weather. One of the highlights was the first Hampshire and fifth UK record of Black V Moth in a garden moth trap at Woodlands on the night of 12 July; there was very little moth immigration at the time raising the question of whether the species has become locally established. The same site also attracted a series of nationally rare moths in late July that have traditionally been viewed as New Forest specialities, including four Dingy Mocha and three Light Crimson Underwing, as well as potentially the first New Forest record of the melanistic form of Riband Wave, and both Red-tipped and Yellow-legged Clearwings in a garden polytunnel. Other notable moth records on the open forest included larval cases of Large Heath Bagworm Pachythelia villosella near Pig Bush on 12 June, Cottongrass Sedge-miner Elachista albidella at the same site on 17 June, Ling Owlet Scythris empetrella on 23 June at the regular site near Lyndhurst where it was first found in 1834, and what appears to be the first New Forest record of Buff Grey Tortrix Cnephasia longana at Matley Bog on 03 July.
Black V Moth on 13 July 2024 (photo: Russell Wynn)
Winged insects can be highly mobile and are therefore capable of responding rapidly to environmental change, with ‘continental’ species becoming established in the New Forest at a bewildering rate. Formerly rare moths such as Jersey Tiger, Tree-lichen Beauty, and Rusty Acorn Piercer Cydia amplana were widely reported by local moth-trappers in July, Norfolk Hawker dragonflies were reported at two sites close to the New Forest and seem likely to be a future colonist, and formerly nationally scarce species such as Median Wasp, Bee Wolf, and Pantaloon Bee are now forming breeding colonies in the New Forest that are several hundred strong.
Jersey Tiger, Tree-lichen Beauty, and Rusty Acorn Piercer on 30 July 2024 (photo: Russell Wynn)
Fungi sightings were relatively sparse as expected for the season, but Devil’s Fingers made an early appearance at a regular site near Lyndhurst on 15 June and the first specimen of the nationally rare Tiered Tooth was found on 15 July. Hampshire Fungus Recording Group (HFRG) conducted surveys at two new Forest sites in July, with the first on 21 July producing a scattering of the larger and more charismatic fungi such as Jewelled Amanita and Scarletina Bolete, as well as several tiny and often overlooked species such as Holly Parachute, Earpick Fungus, Ticker Inkcap, and Dung Cannon Pilobolus. A tiny parachute fungus on an Oak leaf appeared to be the rarely recorded Oak Toughshank Gymnopus quercophilus, and a bracket fungus on Grey Willow may be Phellinopsis conchata. A specimen of Choke on grass has been tentatively identified as Epichloe baconii, which would be the first New Forest record, while several spectacular clumps of coral fungus Ramaria and a freshly emerged fibrecap Inocybe await DNA analysis for firm identification (HFRG have received grant funding from the New Forest Biodiversity Forum to support DNA analysis of rare and cryptic species, with permission of Forestry England).
Tiered Tooth on 28 July (photo: Peter Norton)
Some great images of notable plants were reported on the Wild New Forest Facebook site in early summer, including the nationally rare Bastard Balm (info here) and the locally rare Chalk Fragrant-orchid (info here).
Bastard Balm on 31 May 2024 (photo: Marion Nesbitt)
Wildlife and conservation news
The lack of insects on the wing this spring and summer, particularly butterflies and moths, has been a major talking point locally and made national headlines in July. Initial results from the Big Butterfly Count here support anecdotal observations of worryingly low butterfly numbers, with the exceptionally wet winter and spring followed by a generally cool summer being a likely driver. However, it will take some time to fully understand the long-term impacts and the knock-on effects on higher-level predators such as birds and bats, e.g. see media article entitled “Where are all the bats?” here and the Bat Conservation Trust response here.
The ongoing impact of climate change and extreme weather on our wildlife was underpinned by news headlines here indicating that daily global average air temperatures reached a record high for the modern era of 17.15oC on 22 July, and a Met Office press release here on 25 July stating that that “climate change is causing a dramatic increase in the frequency of temperature extremes and number of temperature records the UK experiences”; the latter was based on the ‘State of the UK Climate 2023’ report, published as open access in the International Journal of Climatology, which provides a useful executive summary and a wealth of handy facts and figures.
Daily global average air temperature, 1940-2024 (screengrab: BBC News)
The New Forest now has one of the highest population densities of Goshawk in the UK, with around 45 pairs on the Crown lands and several more on adjacent private land. The New Forest Raptor Monitoring Group are conducting detailed studies on this population and their impact on other species, sponsored by the New Forest Biodiversity Forum. A recent paper on Goshawk diet by Gloucestershire Raptor Monitoring Group, published in the Quarterly Journal of Forestry and available here, contains lots of data of relevance to the New Forest, and the summary is reproduced below: The Gloucestershire Raptor Monitoring Group has been studying the diet of Goshawk using nest trail cameras for the five years 2017-22. In many nests the non-native Grey Squirrel constitutes a high proportion of prey delivered by the adults. Grey Squirrel can cause significant damage to trees, recently estimated to cost £37 million a year across England and Wales, and considerable time and money is spent on Grey Squirrel control. It is expected that a breeding pair of Goshawk can provide a form of natural pest control of Grey Squirrel in the woodland in which they nest, and this article discusses ways in which woodland managers can support them.
There is growing interest in the population of free-living Honeybees in the ancient woodlands of the New Forest, and the potential negative impacts of high densities of domestic Honeybees in this highly protected landscape that is currently subject to high grazing pressure from livestock and deer. A recent article here from the Natural Beekeeping Trust provides some interesting perspectives, and this topic is one that the New Forest Biodiversity Forum would like to pursue via a future student- or volunteer-based project.
Finally, many thanks as always to all those who contributed their observations and images to the various online fora that provide source material for these reports, particularly Going Birding and the Wild New Forest and Hantsmoths Facebook sites.
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