You’ve probably already seen fledgling blue and great tits (Cyanistes caeruleus and Parus major) looking adorably scruffy, wings flapping and beaks open, relentlessly chasing their parents for protein-rich meals of caterpillars and insects. The tit family have just one brood each year, while other songbirds like robins (Erithacus rubecula), blackbirds (Turdus merula) and house sparrows (Passer domesticus) may already be on their second. In a good year, when there’s plenty of food available, including the ever-reliable earthworm, they may even squeeze in a third before the end of July. And as you know, if you see a baby bird looking lost in a corner of your garden or local park, just leave it be, its parents won’t be far away, and they’ll soon rescue it! 

Down at Westhay Moor National Nature Reserve you may see young coots (Fulica atra) and moorhens (Gallinula chloropus) and even this year’s first great crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus) chicks! These doting parents protect their chicks from predators and choppy waters by carry them on their backs, until they are strong enough to dive away from danger and feed themselves.

As our woodlands and grasslands are now full of fresh green growth, this is the time for most deer species in the UK to give birth. Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) mothers give birth to two or three ‘kids’ and will leave them hidden in long grass or thickets. They return every few hours to feed them, until the youngsters are strong enough to accompany them. Until then, lying still and giving off little scent is their best protection against predators. 

Meanwhile, during June and July, newly born red deer (Cervus elaphus) calves will be quietly hidden amongst moorland vegetation and the woodland edges of Exmoor. Does will usually give birth to just a single calf, camouflaged by the pale spots on their red coats which look like dappled sunlight on bracken. Red deer are the UK’s largest land mammal and they and roe deer are our only native deer species.

But not all of nature’s youngsters need their parents to care for them. Way back in January or February you might have seen clusters of frogspawn in nearby ponds or perhaps ribbons of toad spawn wrapped around the aquatic plants. In mid to late spring the tadpoles that survived will have undergone a final metamorphosis, meaning that they will have changed into perfect tiny common frogs (Rana temporaria) and common toads (Bufo bufo).  

Early summer is the time when they are ready to emerge from their watery birth place, but hungry predators are ready and waiting! Frogs are a feast for plenty of wetland species like grass snakes (Natrix helvetica), water shrews, (Neomys fodiens) otters (Lutra lutra) and grey herons (Ardea cinerea). But toads are better protected by a toxin stored in their skin glands, left over from when they were tadpoles, which makes them unpalatable. 

The best place to find these tiny amphibians is under vegetation close to the water’s edge, where they feed on flies, slugs and snails. As they get bigger, they are easy to tell apart: frogs are smooth skinned, with a dark ‘mask’ pattern behind their eyes. They are generally green or brown and hop or jump when they move. Toads have greenish brown warty skin and walk rather than hop. 

The froglets and toadlets who make it to adult size will eventually head off to spend the rest of the year in nearby woodlands, hedgerows and gardens. At two or three years of age they will be mature enough to return to the pond of their birth and continue the life cycle.

Unfortunately, frog and toad populations are rapidly declining across the UK and Europe. This is mostly due to an ever-decreasing number of ponds and other wetland habitats. Also, toads in particular die in great numbers every winter trying to cross busy roads to reach ponds to breed. 

But there are ways you can help: creating a pond in your garden is of course a brilliant way of providing breeding habitat. Alternatively, you could give frogs and toads a cool dark place to shelter on hot days and a place to hide from predators by making piles of rocks or logs in your garden. Compost heaps also provide warmth and shelter in the winter and an ‘all-you-can-eat’ buffet of insects, worms and slugs! If you would like to learn more, click the link here and check out our wildlife gardening info! 

But where are all the butterflies?! Sometime in June, you may realise you haven’t seen many butterflies for a while. Citizen scientists who record butterfly numbers every year refer to this quirk of nature as the ‘June Gap’. It’s the quiet time between the end of one generation and the start of another. This is because many butterfly species over winter as adults, taking shelter in places like ivy and tree cavities, or even our sheds and garages. They emerge again around March to breed and lay their eggs, and then by late spring most of them have died. For example, peacock (Aglais io) butterflies lay their eggs on the underside of common nettle leaves (Urtica dioica), which is the food plant for their caterpillars. Sometime in June, clusters of black caterpillars can be seen devouring the nettle leaves, spinning a protective silky web around themselves each time they move on to a new plant. 

By the time they reach full size, peacock caterpillars are sporting impressive black spikes and wearing a jet-black coat studded with white spots, looking a bit like a starry night sky! Now they are ready for the final change, each one finding a hidden spot under a leaf or stem to form a chrysalis. It can take between two and four weeks for the new adults to emerge, ready to grace our gardens again by the end of June.

Two new wildflowers to look out for are ox-eye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) and ragged robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi). Looking like a big, bold version of the common daisy (Bellis perennis), the ox-eye daisy can be found flowering from June to September in all kinds of places, from field margins to cliff tops. It prefers disturbed ground and infertile soils, so it is also fond of roadside verges and roundabouts! Two lovely old-fashioned names for this flower are ‘Moon Daisy’ and ‘Moon Penny’, perhaps because the white petals reflect the evening sunlight, making them look almost luminous! 

Sadly, ragged robin is disappearing from our countryside. It prefers damp places like wetland meadows and woodland rides. Its pink frayed looking flowers bloom from May until September and attract dragonflies, bees and butterflies. If you have a pond, or a damp area in your garden, why not buy some ragged robin seed and see if it will make itself at home?

And for the orchid enthusiasts, the incredible bee orchid (Ophrys apifera) will be flowering in June and July. Some can be found on Somerset Wildlife Trust reserves like Yarley Fields near Wells and Bishopswood Meadows in the Blackdown Hills. If you’ve never seen one before, as the name suggests, the bottom lip of the flower looks a lot like a bee! 

The shape of the flower has evolved to attract the male Longhorn bee (Eucera longicornis), it even sends out pheromones that smell just like the female bee. The amorous male flies from flower to flower, collecting pollen on his head as he goes, hoping to mate but pollinating orchids instead!  Although this plant loves the dry chalk and limestone soils of the southwest, we’re a bit too far north to be home for the Longhorn bee; it is generally found across the rest of the orchid’s range in Europe and North Africa. No matter, it was Darwin himself who discovered that the bee orchid can self-pollinate, so we should be able to enjoy it here in Somerset for years to come!