Features

Woodland Cheer

Martin Brennan tells us what to watch for in the natural world in May and June.

With longer days and greater light intensity combined with increased temperatures, nature is busy producing a mass of vegetation to add new colour and diversity to the landscape. Through the process of photosynthesis, the leaves convert nutrients into energy for the current year's growth.

Each morning there's the melodious dawn chorus, a production which the birds repeat each evening in a more low-key way. As pleasant as it may be to the human ear, for the birds it is part of the practical exercise of attracting mates and marking territory. Each species times the process of reproduction to take advantage of its own specialist food source.

Natural carpets

Woodland offers the ideal habitat in which to experience the interaction of these events. The pressure is on plants to flower and set seed before the incident sunlight is diminished by the closing tree canopy. The sight of woodland carpeted in bluebells is one of early summer's most uplifting natural displays. It is almost matched by the white blanket of wild garlic or ramsons, which is enhanced by its distinctive aroma wafting through the forest. Additional colour is provided by Wood Anemone, Wood Sorrell, Lords and Ladies, Violets, Primroses and the developing Foxglove, not to forget the profusion of mosses, lichens and fungi and the unfurling ferns. With birds at their most vocal and still visible in the developing vegetation, early summer offers the best opportunity to learn and identify birds by their song.

Butterflies

Open spaces in the wood allow light and heat to penetrate, thus promoting greater plant diversity and encouraging insects and butterflies such as the Speckled Wood, Small Tortoiseshell and the migratory Red Admiral, all of which can be seen feeding and soaking up the vital heat which gives them their energy. Dead wood and old trees provide niches for specialist species and holes for nesting birds and bats.

Healthy broadleaved woodland is enhanced by an understorey of Rowan, Hazel, Holly and Hawthorn. These flower in late spring or early summer adding to the display and to the aroma of the woodland. In the words of Longfellow':

The green trees whispered low and mild;
It was a sound of joy! …
And waved their long arms to and fro,
And beckoned solemnly and slow;
Oh, I could not chose but go
Into the woodlands hoar, …

Hawthorn

The Hawthorn or Whitethorn is the most characteristic of our hedgerow plants. Hedgerows form a sort of linear woodland habitat and are invaluable for wildlife, acting as corridors connecting woodlands. It is impossible to contemplate summer without the "Maybush" and the ribbons of white with which it decorates the countryside. This is followed by the equally attractive display of the elder - saucers of scented, creamy-white flowers which develop into the store of purple berries sought out both by birds and wine-making humans.

Mayfly

A creature which typifies the lazy days of summer and the trout fishing season is the aptly named Mayfly. It emerges from the water, in which it has spent up to two years as a nymph, to develop into the delicate adult with transparent wings and three "tails". They dance in large swarms above the surface of the water, with most ending up as food for fish lurking beneath. Its life in this form is no more than a day or two. Their function is to reproduce. Needing clean water during the period of their larval stage, they are good indicators of water quality.

The late returning migrants such as Spotted Flycatcher and some species of Tern arrive in May, and with the Cuckoo calling, the most distinctive sound of summer can be heard. For those in more urban settings the sound of the arrow-shaped Swift, screaming as it flies at great speed over the rooftops, may be more familiar.

Martin Brennan is an Environmental Consultant and Ecologist living in Co.Sligo.

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