{"id":3722,"date":"2026-08-01T11:55:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T10:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/stovercountrypark\/?p=3722"},"modified":"2026-08-01T11:55:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T10:55:43","slug":"july-newsletter-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/stovercountrypark\/archives\/3722","title":{"rendered":"July Newsletter 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Honeysuckle\"The longest day is now behind us and summer is in full swing, experiencing an amber heatwave already!\u00a0 On the heath the heather will soon start to flower along with heath speedwell and eyebright. A characteristic sound of the heath in mid-summer is the crackle of the seed pods of common gorse as they split open to disperse their seeds. Figwort, Wood sage, broad-leaved helleborine and foxgloves can be found flowering in the woods. Honeysuckle is at its most fragrant during the evenings to attract the night-flying moths which pollinate it. The grassland verges contain hedge woundwort, meadowsweet, rosebay willowherb, birds-foot trefoil, common-spotted orchid and St. John\u2019s wort. Greater and lesser spearwort, water forget-me-not, brooklime, water mint, valerian, ragged robin, hemlock-water-dropwort and purple loosestrife can be found in the marsh and wetter areas of the Park. Parasitic plants such as dodder and common broomrape flower on their hosts such as gorse and clover respectively. July is the month when thistles bloom and wild cherries ripen. Bladderwort flowers this month in the lake and ponds \u2013 they attract insects to pollinate their flowers above the water but feast on small aquatic water fleas and midge larvae beneath the surface; catching them in small underwater bladders. The air will have the sickly scent of sweet chestnut blooms later this month. Look out for the bees, wasps and hoverflies which will pollinate the catkins.<\/p>\n

The bird nesting season is now almost over and the young migrants are starting to wander. Many birds have now fallen quiet, their courtship and territorial songs replaced by subdued contact calls. However, spotted flycatchers are relatively late nesters and will be feeding young at the moment. Keep an eye out for male goldcrests in the top branches of the conifers. They are busy feeding their second brood having raised their first almost single handed. The females may build a new nest and lay a clutch and even incubate before the young of the first clutch have fledged. This makes the best use of the most productive part of the summer. Blackbirds were still feeding young last month and are on their second broods. At least two pairs of nightjar have been recorded on the heath again (at least two males were churring on 17th<\/sup> June) and should now be sitting on eggs. The great-spotted woodpecker young can be heard calling from their nest holes. The tawny owl young will all have fledged at the beginning of June. There have been very few records of willow warblers this year which appears to be replicated across the County.<\/p>\n

Most of the birds at Stover are already in full moult as they change into plumage which will see them through the autumn and winter. The smaller birds such as nuthatches, tits and robins are all quite scruffy and drab at the moment. Hobbies are usually recorded over the lake during June and at a distance resemble a giant swift. Hobbies spend the winter in Africa, south of the Sahara, and come to Britain in the summer to breed. Dragonflies and swallows form part of their prey which they catch on the wing making Stover Lake a good place to spot them.<\/p>\n

Mallard young are still hatching with the first early broods now fully grown and only distinguishable from the adult birds by their brighter plumage. Coot and moorhen broods continued to hatch out in June. There appears to have been an incident overnight on 15th<\/sup> June as one swan cygnet was missing the following day, with a large amount of adult swan white feathers on the lake. The remaining four cygnets are growing fast. Two of the young from 2025 also appeared on 16th<\/sup> June, but were chased away swiftly. The great-crested grebe has not been successful in attracting a replacement mate this year, so unfortunately there are no chicks this year, which are usually very vocal asking for food in\u00a0 July. Up to 17 tufted duck have been present on the lake, with is very unusual, as they always leave the lake in the Spring to fly to Scandinavia and Russia to breed. One pair decided to nest at Stover instead and 8 tufted duck ducklings hatched out on 20th<\/sup> June which is the first time for Stover!<\/p>\n

Swallows, swifts, house martins and sand martins were seen throughout June catching insects over the lake. Black-headed gulls usually start to arrive after the longest day has been and gone, increasing in numbers as winter approaches. Keep an eye out for the first of these \u2018winter\u2019 gulls. Herring gulls always seem to be present at Stover during the summer now, and although remain in low numbers pose a constant threat to the young ducklings and other young waterfowl. Two common sandpipers were recorded on 20th<\/sup> and 23rd<\/sup> June.<\/p>\n

The smallest of Britain\u2019s two species of native deer, the roe deer, rut towards the end of this month. The females make piping noises with the males barking and bashing the vegetation, leaving a visual sign for others as well as their scent. Young moles, mice, voles and shrews will start to leave home and disperse. For about the only time in their lives, young moles come above ground in search of new territories. Stover\u2019s bats have been out in force feeding over the lake on most evenings \u2013 the hot weather has insured a good supply of insects.<\/p>\n

July is a good time to see reptiles basking in the sun. Grass-snakes have been spotted swimming in the lake. Their young hatch out this month which is also the peak time for common lizard births. Newly hatched lizards are only 4cm long and are even more difficult to spot than the adults. Keep an eye out for the last of the tiny frogs which are now leaving the lake and ponds and travelling to the surrounding woods. Be careful where you tread as they are on route to damp shady areas where they prey on small insects such as aphids, before they are large enough to eat slugs and snails.<\/p>\n

\"MarbledJuly is the best time of the year to look for butterflies and dragonflies. There are probably more species of butterfly on the wing this month than at any time of year. Silver-washed fritillaries, white admirals, meadow browns and gatekeepers were all seen for the first time in June. Silver-washed fritillaries should now be on the look-out for mates, and can be found with white admirals in sunny woodland clearings often near bramble. \u00a0Any warm southerly winds in July bring the migrant painted lady butterflies from southern Europe and North Africa – they lay their eggs on nettles and thistles. Hawkmoths and the brightly coloured day-flying moths, especially the tiger moths, are on the wing at the moment. Keep an eye out for hornets which are usually active at this time of the year. There were a few sightings in June.<\/p>\n

\"ScarceThere are huge numbers of dragonflies and damselflies out at the moment at Stover. Additional species to the May sightings recorded last month were common darter and keeled skimmer. Red-veined darter was confirmed as breeding for the first time at Stover on 23rd<\/sup> June. The lesser emperor is a rare species \u2013 it was first recorded in Britain in 1996 and has been expanding its range from the continent since. Keep an eye out as it should now be on the wing. Grasshoppers and crickets, nearly all of which reach their adult moults by the months end, are in full song.<\/p>\n

BBQ charcoal is available for sale at the office. We produce the charcoal on site from wood felled as part of the lowland heathland regeneration programme \u2013 it\u2019s locally produced, not transported across the world, is sourced from sustainable timber and not from tropical hardwoods, and the money received supports more conservation projects\u2026.perfect for a summers evening BBQ!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The longest day is now behind us and summer is in full swing, experiencing an amber heatwave already!\u00a0 On the heath the heather will soon start to flower along with heath speedwell and eyebright. A characteristic sound of the heath … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2866,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-updates","category-newsletters"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-13 18:04:52","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/stovercountrypark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/stovercountrypark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/stovercountrypark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/stovercountrypark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2866"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/stovercountrypark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3722"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/stovercountrypark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3727,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/stovercountrypark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3722\/revisions\/3727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/stovercountrypark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/stovercountrypark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/stovercountrypark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}