Article

Wildlife & Plants In the UK

June

June brings roses fresh and fair…

Wildlife

From coast to mountains, birds are busy breeding and feeding their young. Butterflies and a host of other insects are searching for pollen and nectar. Rarely, you may hear the cry of a nightjar as it captures moths and other nocturnal insects in its heathland home.

What to See	Where to See and comment	What it looks like
Puffins	Skomer Island, Farne Islands. Lundy and in a number of places in Scotland including Bass Rock. By now they are busy bringing back food for their young.
Red Kite Red Kite Gallery	wheeling and gliding on a thermal as it looks for prey below. Where to Photograph Red Kites is a list of locations where you can see them within the UK.
Green Woodpeckers Green Woodpecker Gallery	out with their young, when they are brought to feeding stations or into gardens.
Greater Spotted Woodpecker Great Spotted Woodpecker	Out feeding their young.
Badgers	Out at night in woods and forests as well as on country lanes. Sometimes in your garden if you have something tasty for them.
Common Seals or Harbour Seals	Around the coast of Scotland, particularly the Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland, but mainly the east coast of England in the Wash. They give birth to their young in June or July each year.
Damselflies	Rivers, streams and ponds
Dragonflies	Rivers, streams and ponds
Moths	Come out at night, attracted to light sources so take a look around your outside lights. In the mornings you may find them resting in dark and damp places after having their nightly feed.
Bats	warm midsummer nights out looking for food, best seen at dusk
Red Admiral butterfly	is a common visitor to garden flowers.
Ladybirds
Wood Louse
Centipedes

Plantlife

June is an excellent time for walkers to appreciate England’s wealth of wildflowers while the woodland flowers are starting to produce seeds.

What to See	Where to See and comment	What it looks like
Foxgloves	are a distinctive feature of the countryside
Dog roses	flower in the hedgerows.
Brambles
Honeysuckles
Wild Orchids	appear in chalk downlands and limestone soils
Myriad vetches and daisies	grow in profusion in pasture and meadow
Sea Pinks	Cliff tops
Sea Campions	found on cliff tops
Oxeye Daisy	should be growing in meadows, but also under scrubs, open canopy forests and waste places.

See Also

For a more in depth look at Wildlife photography in June.

Other species can be found listed in the Wildlife Section or within the topic index under

• Wildlife and Animals

• Nature, Flora and Countryside

• Wildlife & Nature within the reference section