July on the League Against Cruel Sports’ wildlife reserves

As the warm and dry weather continues on the League’s wildlife reserves, there are always going to be species that flourish and others that suffer in the extreme conditions.   

The humble earthworm, an important source of food and moisture for badgers, foxes, hedgehogs, and a host of other species, from buzzards to blackbirds, digs deeper down into the soil in dry conditions and becomes inaccessible to all except subterranean experts like moles. This means that animals have to go further afield to find food, which can bring them into increased conflict with people.  

As surface water dries up and juicy worms remain out of reach, the danger of dehydration becomes a real threat for many species too. Fortunately, on the Baronsdown wildlife reserve there are numerous water troughs for the wildlife to drink from, but young red deer calves still remain vulnerable if they are lying out in the hot sun.  

Insects, meanwhile, are having a bumper year. Artificial pesticides, herbicides, and fertilisers haven’t been applied to the fields on Baronsdown for decades, if at all, and the fields are buzzing with bumblebees, solitary bees, hoverflies, butterflies, and more fly species than I could name, while down in the grasses there has been an explosion of grasshoppers and beetles. I am not sure why we need so many species of horseflies and ticks, but I am sure that they must have found an important niche in the ecosystem, no matter how annoying they can be.  

Trees are also starting to struggle with the dry conditions, in particular shallow-rooted species like beech and species that are already fighting disease, like ash. As climate change brings the increasing chance of droughts, floods, and storms, we can expect to see the landscape alter noticeably over the coming years. We are planning to help mitigate against these problems by planting more trees and shrubs of appropriate species on our reserves.   

We can all help wildlife through these hard times by leaving out a shallow bowl of water and maybe some moist food for animals at home or at work and by saving rainwater and wastewater to water our plants, while encouraging others to do likewise.