Wildlife Notes
Dr Phil Smith is a retired biology lecturer who was a Trustee of the Lancashire Wildlife Trust from 1970 to 2010. He has wide natural history interests, being especially enthusiastic about the flora and fauna of sand-dunes and salt-marshes. Spending much of his time on biological surveys to promote the understanding and conservation of Northwest wildlife, Phil is also a keen photographer.
In 2002, he was awarded an MBE for services to nature conservation. Phil has written over 300 scientific reports, articles and papers and two books, including The Sands of Time Revisited (2009) describing the history and natural history of the Sefton Coast sand-dunes.
In the series of monthly articles Phil describes some of the highlights of a life spent amongst nature in Merseyside.
With the Latest Wildlife Notes and Wildlife Notes 2012 onwards it is possible to click or tap on a thumbnail image in the document and view an enlarged image in stunning close up detail. Best viewed on a larger screen
To view previous monthly wildlife notes please click HERE
“The History of Human Influence on the Sefton Coast”
Dr. Phil Smith has provided an updated and fascinating (44 page) report
supported with a wide variety of fascinating images for our Civic Society pages.
To view please click here (pdf opens in a new tab)
Latest Wildlife Notes
Dr Phil Smith’s Wildlife Notes
JUNE 2026
The Met. Office described June as “A month of two halves.” Like May, it was cool and unsettled at first and then we had the mother of all heatwaves. Overall, it was England’s warmest June on record (going back to 1884). On 26th, a new record high temperature for June – 37.7oC was set in Norfolk. The infamous 1976 heatwave lasted longer but, 50 years on, June this year had more intense bursts of heat and, of course, there could be more to come. Rainfall nationally was about average but Rachael Parks recorded only 48.7 mm in her garden; about 40% lower than usual for June in Formby, probably because we didn’t get many heavy showers or thunderstorms. As expected, the sand-dune water-table, measured at the lowest point of the Devil’s Hole, dropped by about 16 cm.
With high temperatures and southerly winds, an invasion of southern dragonflies could almost be guaranteed but expectations were exceeded, especially for the delightful Red-veined Darter. After several visits to Crosby Coastal Park, Pete Kinsella reported an unprecedented total of 75 males and four females, mostly on the boating lake and nearby dunes. I managed to catch up with seven on 17th, including a mating pair, one male happily allowing a close approach for its portrait. Others were seen at Sands Lake Ainsdale, where there were also two Lesser Emperors and perhaps as many as three Norfolk Hawkers. The latter was widely reported across the Northwest, no doubt soon to breed here. Banded Demoiselles dazzled throughout the month at Alt Bridge, Formby, my highest count being 30 on 26th along about 200 m of Downholland Brook. The total population on this watercourse must be enormous. A few strayed away from their breeding habitat and turned up in the dunes. Also, at Alt Bridge my first Southern Hawker of the season was a female. Another highlight involved a trip to Victoria Park, Southport, now a reliable place to see the Small Red-eyed Damselfly since its arrival from the south a few years ago. I was delighted to count 44, including several mating pairs, vying for attention with four more dragonflies and damselflies.
Despite the heat, other insect groups were well represented along the dune coast. Ringlet butterflies began to appear in their favourite woodland glade at Ravenmeols, reaching a peak of 40 on 20th. The same place produced two more spectacular Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn beetlesand a smart Broad-banded Smoothtail hoverfly. Sands Lake had a big hatch of one of my favourite hoverflies, the Mini-stripeback. The lake surrounds also produced two impressively bristly Giant Tachinas, our largest parasitic fly. Widespread in Britain but local, it mainly attacks the big, hairy caterpillars of the Oak Eggar and Fox Moth. At Ainsdale Sand Dunes National Nature Reserve, Ron Moyes showed me two of the nationally declining, metallic-green Forester moths. Lots of solitary bees in the dunes included the tiny Silvery Leafcutter-bee which has distinctive green eyes.
A short drive inland to Haskayne Cutting was rewarded with a new soldier fly for me, the Long-horned Black Legionnaire. A cacophony of bird song included the Yellowhammer, now rarely seen elsewhere in the region. I also did my annual count of Southern Marsh Orchids, the total being 250, slightly up on last year but nothing like the thousands at Haskayne a few years ago.
On 13th, I attended a joint meeting of Bradford Botany Group and the Wildflower Society at Crosby Coastal Park, a site with remarkable botanical richness, including several great rarities. This expert group, some from as far away as Leeds, added about 25 plants to the park’s list of over 360. New to me was Greater Honeywort, a strange-looking Mediterranean species with a mainly southern British distribution. The following week I was with the Liverpool Botanical Society, celebrating the life of the late Patricia Lockwood on the southern section of Birkdale Green Beach, another area with eyewatering diversity. Steve Cross showed us a new plant for the Green Beach – a large specimen of Narrow-leaved Ragwort, originally from South Africa but now increasingly naturalized in the British Isles, though seemingly not invasive. The group also enjoyed a patch of the extremely rare Sea-holly Broomrape, originally found a year ago by Joshua Styles.
Other surveys included my ongoing long-term study of floristic change in two slacks at Hightown dunes. They are now getting quite overgrown, after being cleared of Sea Buckthorn scrub in 2011. Nevertheless, sizeable colonies of Twayblade orchids were pleasing finds in both slacks. June is the best month for orchids along the dune coast; spectacular Bee Orchids are followed by masses of Southern and Early Marsh-orchids, then Marsh Helleborines and Pyramidal Orchids in glorious display which was all too brief.