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This year seems to be flying by and it is already August.   Many authors refer to August as "the silent month" because, as Brian Vesey-Fitzgerald put it in his 1942 companion to the seasons A Country Chronicle: "The absence of [bird] song is due, of course, to the fact that the birds are moulting and are depressed."   It is certainly true that bird song is reduced in this month, but I cannot think of August -- or, indeed, any month -- as being silent.   This month can, however, be hot.   Indeed, the it is during August that we experience many of those "dog-days of summer".   This expression originates from the Romans, dies caniculares in Latin, who believed that the hot, muggy spells associated with this month were influenced by Sirus, the Dog Star ("Dog Star" because it is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major, or "Large Dog").   Here in the south of England we had many such days (and nights!) last month and it looks set to continue for much of August, with no major rainfall forecast for the next couple of weeks.   If you're in a similar situation, and currently feed your local wildlife, please try and put out some water for them - during prolonged periods of hot, dry weather, it can be very difficult for animals to find freshwater.   Better still, water a small section of your lawn or flowerbed before going to bed - this will bring worms up to the surface and provide a meal for foxes, badgers and hedgehogs visiting your garden.

I was fortunate enough to be able to spend some time with my parents in Cornwall last weekend and they've been having a problem with birds flying into their windows; this seems to be a fairly widespread problem.   Some of the casualties seem to stun themselves and, after sitting on the ground for a few minutes, shake themselves 'awake' and fly off (although what happens to them thereafter is unknown).   Many, however, do not survive the collision and last weekend a juvenile robin sadly died when it broke its neck upon hitting the window.   Unfortunately, the first most people know of a collision is when they hear a bang or possibly find an impression of the bird on the glass (caused by dust in the feathers).   So, why do birds hit windows?   The answer lies in the reflections.   As you can see below, the window reflects the view of the garden (and seems worse with double-glazing) and makes it appear that the garden extends beyond the glass.   In other cases, it may simply be that two windows are aligned; so a bird can see in one and out the another on an opposing wall, making it seem that there is a clear path through.   It is possible to fix objects to the outside of your windows to stop birds from flying into them (people have had reasonable success by hanging bits of string in front of the glass).   The RSPB sell bird silhouettes that can be stuck on the window and are apparently effective, as (I have read) are dream/sun-catchers, or anything else that glints in the sunlight.

Unfortunately, towards the end of last month, there was another fox bite incident.   This time, thirteen-year-old Bethany Blackburn was bitten on her left foot by a fox that, according to media reports, tore a hole in the tent in which she was camping with two friends just before midnight on Sunday 25th July.   According to one newspaper, the fox spent two hours scratching at the side of the tent, before it got in and an article in The Daily Mail told how the fox, which the girls said was a cub, "sat, snarling, in the porch area, only turning tail when Bethany's mother, who the desperate schoolgirl had alerted on her mobile phone, switched on the kitchen light and came out to investigate".   The attack happened in a backgarden in suburban Long Ditton, Surrey.   Bethany told the paper that the 'brazen' fox returned to her garden in the next night and urinated on the tent door.   This is case received less media attention than that of the nine-month-old twins Lola and Isabella Koupparis, who were badly bitten by a fox in Hackney (London) on 5th June.   There was apparently no food around the tent at the time and it remains unclear what attracted the fox to the tent, but "snarling" is most certainly an abnormal behaviour.   The marking behaviour is not unusual; foxes very often scent-mark novel objects in their territory, and a tent would certainly fit the bill.   Even taking this unfortunate, and no doubt highly distressing for those involved, event into account, fox attacks on people are still exceptionally rare.   I have heard pest control officers say that the number of fox bites is on the increase and many aren't reported - this may be true, but we'll never know for sure if such cases never make it to light.   The important point, as before, is that we must remember that foxes are wild predators - they are not pets and should not be treated as such.   If everybody remembers that simple fact, and doesn't encourage their local foxes to become too assured in their presence, we will have fewer problems with these russet-furred denizens of the night.   Sadly, it seems that the recent attacks have spurred a group of vigilantes in London to go out each weekend drugging and killing foxes in apparent revenge.   According to their website, this group are performing a public service by killing these "disease ridden vermin" and reducing numbers.   From the video and write-ups I have seen, there is a little too much pleasure being taken in the killing (in one case with a cricket bat) of these animals and, of course, their actions have absolutely no impact on the urban fox population.

On the subject of foxes, and specifically urban foxes, I have been working on  some short Q/As, which I will be adding to the Red Fox Questions & Answers page as I complete them.   The first three have been completed and I'm hoping to have the remainder done and online this month, and I will activate the below links as they are uploaded: Q: How and why did foxes come to live in our towns and cities? Q: Are urban foxes unique to Britain? Q: Are fox numbers increasing in Britain? Q: Do foxes pose a threat to people and their pets? Q: Should we be culling foxes in urban areas? Q: How can I keep foxes out of my garden and protect my pets?

Bird-wise, as mentioned, this can be something of a quiet month and most species have now bred and are currently moulting.   Nonetheless, the mysterious House martins (Delichon urbicum), which are common in our towns and cities, can often be found around muddy pools collecting nesting material (see, left).   Despite being mid-moult, Shelducks (Tadorna tadorna), are still gorgeous ducks that visit parts of the UK (e.g. Humber, Wash, Severn estuaries) to feed following breeding.   Juvenile Common buzzards (Buteo buteo), Spotted flycatchers (Muscicapa striata) and newly-independent Common dippers (Cinclus cinclus) can be seen in August.   Similarly, an early morning walk on healthland might reward you with a Stonechat (Saxicola torquata), while Linnets (Carduelis cannabina) gather in farmland stubble in appreciable flocks during this month, now the breeding season has ended.   Male Coots (Fulica atra) may still be fighting with rivals, even though many will have had their first brood by now and August represents the final chance to see Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) before they head off to their wintering grounds in Africa.

In the reptile and amphibian world, August is a good month to go scouring the heather for new-born Adders (Vipera berus) and checking compost heaps and undergrowth for Grass-snakes (Natrix natrix) and Slowworms (Anguis fragilis - below).   The impressive emerald green of male Sand lizards (Lacerta agilis) during the breeding season has faded now, but they are still impressive when encountered on heathland during this month, while Palmate newts (Triturus helveticus) can be found in the upland and lowland (usually acidic) pools of  west and north Britain.

August is a good month for insects too, with the colourful, if unfortunately-named, Pus moth (Cerura vinula) caterpillar found feeding on Poplar (Populus tremula) & Willow (Salix sp.) in parks and woods during this month, while Silver-washed fritillaries (Argynnis paphia) brighten up woodlands and various dragon- and damsel-flies can be found near water laying eggs.   Southern hawkers (Aeshna cyanea) are common on garden ponds this where it lays eggs and the Ruddy darter (Sympetrium sanguineum) on pools and lakes in England.   August is a good month to look for Britain's only truly aquatic spider, the Water spider (Argyroneta aquatica), and Devil's Coach horse (Ocypus olens) beetles that can be found in garden sheds looking for rivals; when confronted, they stand with abdomen curled and if necessary squirt a foul-smelling liquid from their tail.   Magpie moths (Abraxas grossulariata - see right) can be found laying eggs on Gooseberry (Ribes uva-crispa) and Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) bushes at this time of year and one of our most familiar butterflies, the Red admiral (Vanessa atalanta), hatches during late-July and August.

Finally, August can be a good time to see the deep red berries of Cowberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea), a moorland plant favoured by grouse, and -- in Shropshire and Wales -- the pastel-blue Bilberries (Vaccinum myrtillus), which are used to make wimberry tarts.   The buttercup-yellow flowers of Yellow Horned-Poppies (Glaucium flavum) decorate shingle beaches at this time of year, while Stink Horn fungus (Phallus impudicus) can be found in woodlands, where their pungent smell attracts flies that carry the spores away on their feet.

Website-wise, I have completed three of the fox QAs and I will be working on the remainder during the coming weeks.   A while ago I had a spate of e-mails coming through from people describing cases of foxes killing and eating cubs, apparently burying their dead and killing each other.   I'm in the process of putting together a QA which will discuss this intraspecific killing phenomenon, which will go online shortly.   I have also made some minor updates to the Red Fox article (corrections and clarifications mainly), with a view to completely revising and updating the article towards the end of the year.      Once the Red fox revision is online, I will turn my attention back to the deer QAs before moving on to the next article.   As always I love hearing from readers; any queries or comments regarding the information on the site can be sent in using the addresses on the Contact page (Note: Some website questions are answered on the FAQ, while many animal-related questions are covered in the Q/A).   Photos can be e-mailed to a dedicated e-mail address - please keep them coming and don't forget to check out my Photos Needed page.   I'm also interested in hearing any reports of unusual behaviour in any of the animals featured on this site, or interactions between humans and wildlife.   Thanks to Laura Memmiche and Pete Cox for this month's superb shots.

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Okay, for those of you that are new to the site, let's take it from the top!

Hello and welcome to my website.   Actually, I feel something of a fraud calling it "my" website - although I created the bulk of the written content, so many people helped out (from sending in photos to proof-reading material or letting me crawl around in their garden at night with a torch!) that it is very much a combined effort!   At any rate, I'm an enthusiastic amateur naturalist, fortunate enough to live a stone's throw from the New Forest in Hampshire.   I have spent much of my time (both at and away from University) watching my local wildlife - whether it be in my backgarden or out in the fields and woods.   “All very interesting…” I hear you ask, “…but why create a website?”   Well, King George IV was once quoted as saying: “The wildlife of today is not ours to dispose of as we please. We have it in trust, and must account for it to those who come after.”   While this perhaps gives the misleading impression that we, in some way own wildlife, humans have arguably had the most profound impact on both the environment and its inhabitants of any single species since our settlements began to appear on the landscape (perhaps eight million years BC).   An increase in brain cavity from the roughly 500 cubic centimetres of Australopithecus (the oldest known hominids) to the modern Homo sapiens’ brain volume of 1,400 cc in only about three million years (see Richard Dawkins “The Blind Watchmaker”) has helped us manipulate the global environment in a way unlike any other species before us.

“Erm…what, exactly, does this have to do with you creating a website?”   I’m getting to that!   There are now few places on the planet that do not show some signs of human activity, either obviously (i.e. building, mining, felling etc.) or less obtrusively (i.e. pesticides and other chemicals) and, with the rapid ‘urban sprawl’, urban green spaces -- in the form of commons, parks and gardens -- are becoming a final refuge for many (particularly bird) species.   Ergo, foxes, hedgehogs and even deer and badgers are becoming common garden visitors in many parts of the UK (and further afield).   I should mention that I am not implying that these animals have necessarily ‘moved into towns/cities’, rather that our towns and cities have moved into their ranges and the animals have simply adapted to their new surroundings.   Nonetheless, a fox or badger visiting your garden can be a spectacular experience – I still get a little breathless with excitement when I see most wild animal species; even those that I see commonly (like many of our garden birds and squirrels) still fascinate me and I never tire of watching their activities.   However, I find that nature watching is far more interesting if you know a little about that at which you’re staring.   For me specifically, seeing an animal fills my head with questions.   Where does it go the rest of the time?   Does it live nearby?   What does it find to eat around here?   How old is it?   Is it male or female?   Does it have young somewhere?   Moreover, these simple questions (note that these simple questions may have deceptively complex answers) lead to more complex questions – for example: If it’s a male how large is his range?   Does he have a mate somewhere?   If he has a mate, is she his stable partner?   So, you can see how the sighting of a single fox tripping the light-fantastic across my lawn leads to an avalanche of questions.

These questions are good not only for us -- because they help satisfy our (well, my at least) naturally inquisitive nature -- but also for the animals we’re watching.   Questions hopefully bring answers, which bring knowledge.   Knowledge, as they say, is power and with it we are better able to understand our subjects.   If we understand them, we are better able to fulfil King George’s doctrine.   Indeed, the last thing that American theoretical physicist Richard Feynman wrote on his chalkboard before he died was: “What I cannot create, I do not understand”.   With a single substitution, we can sum-up nicely a principle problem in conservation biology: What I cannot protect, I do not understand.   In other words, we cannot hope to provide effective protection for a species/ecosystem that we do not understand.   Obviously there are some exceptions to this, after all knowing the intricate details of a tiger’s life is of little use if you have no money or manpower to police their habitat.   Still, with backgardens representing crucial oases for a number of species, householders have more to contribute to the understanding of our wildlife today than ever – this seems especially true of hedgehogs.

So, Wildlife Online (WLOL) is my small contribution to the education of our species to some of those with which we share our towns and countryside.   “Fine, thanks for clearing that up!   However, why bother when anyone can walk to their bookcase/local library and read up on the species in more detail than you could hope to cover on this site?”   Well, it is certainly true that I could not hope to cover everything that is known about the species on here and also that people can glean much more information by immersing themselves in a decent book on the subject.   Moreover, there are a ton of wildlife websites out there giving details on the life history of the species featured here.   Uh Huh!   Not difficult to see why you flunked out of ‘Salesman School’!   Of greatest importance is that I hate the idea of ‘re-inventing the wheel’ -- if something already exists and does the job, why emulate it? -- which is why I don’t believe that there are any sites out there quite like this one.   Upon beginning my research, it became obvious that much of the information regarding the natural history and behaviour of the wild animals we may see during our daily lives is disseminated across a range of books, electronic media and scientific texts.   Many of the most fascinating discoveries lie in the, sometimes daunting, ‘double-barrel’ wording of the scientific literature.   Consequently, the purpose of WLOL is to provide a reasonably detailed and accessible overview of species natural history, using information from books, the media, scientific journals and the observations of myself and other naturalists.   Where similar published works already exist (e.g. any of the T & AD Poyser natural history texts), WLOL’s aim is to bring the topic up-to-date.

Furthermore, it seems that many people are largely unaware and/or uninformed of the wildlife that surrounds them – I hope this site will provide a useful and educational resource for people to learn about these animals.   I guess the final reason to do it is simply that I want to.   I love learning, I love reading and I love watching wildlife.   I know that I get a kick out of writing the articles and I hope that some of you will get a kick out of reading them.

Alright, but that doesn’t really explain the presence of sharks on the site.  I don’t know about you, but I haven’t had a shark in my garden since the Carboniferous!   Well, the answer is simple – sharks are perhaps the coolest critters on the planet today.   They have so many features that hold them physiologically, biologically, ecologically and behaviourally distinct from other ‘fish’ it is breathtaking.   The particular slant of the elasmobranch (i.e. shark & ray) bit of this site relates to UK species.   I have provided a very basic overview of elasmobranch natural history, but -- as mentioned previously -- as I have no desire to ‘re-create the wheel’ I have opted not to go into any great depth, because my friend and elasmobranch biologist, R. Aidan Martin (who sadly passed away in February 2007) has already done it.

For good reason I have decided to get permission from artists and photographers before using their work on this site – in other words, I didn't swipe the images from books or the Internet.   In certain instances I have been unable to obtain photographs or professional artwork for aspects that I feel would enhance my site – as such I have done my best to draw the scenes.   I am certainly no artist, and make little apology for their calibre; my futile attempts at art are designed merely to provide a 'general idea'.

As a final note, I want to make a quick reference to the quality of the material on the site.   The great French philosopher and mathematician, Rene Descartes, once said: "If you would be a real seeker of truth, you first must be willing to doubt as far as possible all things."   This is very sage advice, especially when it comes to believing what you read on the Internet.   Most Internet sites have no form of peer-review (i.e. nobody with experience of the topic checks the site for accuracy); consequently pretty much anyone can have their own little corner of cyberspace and information can make it onto websites that is either misguided, or downright false!   When creating material for this site I take every care to ensure that the information I present is accurate.   Invariably errors will creep in; typos are almost inevitable (although each article goes through several levels of proof reading before it appears online) and research is always underway on the animals featured here, so the data can go out of date almost overnight.   However, each page has regular (ish!) reviews, during which I update the information, adding details of newly-published research and taking out that which is now thought highly unlikely.   You can see most of the books I have used in the preparation of this site on the Recommended Reading page and I have provided links to some of the most interesting sites I came across during my research – these can be found under the appropriate sub-heading on the Links page.   I should point out that I have not listed all the scientific literature that I have used in the making of these pages as I don't feel this is really necessary.   However, I'm more than happy to supply references to the original reference material upon request.

Anyway, I digress....   I hope you enjoy looking around the site and I hope equally that you get something worthwhile out of it.   Any comments, suggestions or (constructive) criticisms are welcome via e-mail - appropriate addresses can be found on the Contact page.

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DISCLAIMER: All the photographs and artwork on this site were either created by myself or donated by readers.   All images remain propriety of their authors and, if you wish to use any of the pictures, consent must be granted by the appropriate person - requests can be directed via myself or see FAQ.   For more details on the content of this site, please see the full WLOL Disclaimer.