As the first month of summer comes to a close and the second half of the year begins we’ve been loving reading about the wildlife you’ve spotted in Derbyshire this week.

We’ll start off with a sightings blog favourite, the Red Kite spotted near Cromford, a member of a species which have bounced back partly thanks to a reintroduction programme which released its first birds in 1989 in Scotland. A smaller bird which is currently sitting on the red list however is the Grasshopper warbler, a small bird which migrates from Africa each yeah to breed in the UK and was spotted in southern Derbyshire. An even smaller migrant which travels to the UK for the summer from North Africa, the Middle East and southern Europe, is the Painted Lady butterfly which was seen near Belper. You also spotted two of the over 280 species of hoverfly in the UK at our Cromford Canal reserve, the Batman Hoverfly, named after a marking on its back which looks like the batman symbol. The other, the Broad-banded Epistrophe which are drawn to the flowers of umbellifers which are characterised by their discs of small flowers on stalks. Another member of a fly family, this time in the Dolichopodidae, which is made up of thousands of species of Long-Legged Flies, was seen at the reserve.

Spotted this week at our Drakelow reserve were a number of insects including the Red Admiral and Speckled Wood butterflies, five species of moth including the Orange Spot Piercer and Burnet Campion and three species of fly including one of the largest in the UK, the Pellucid Fly. Also recorded were several of our over 4000 species of beetle including Solider and Cardinal beetles, known for their striking red appearance, and the black and green Swollen-Thighed beetle which relies on open structured flowers, like daises, for pollen. Two species of damselfly were also recorded, the Blue-tailed and Common Blue, both of which are regular visitors to garden wildlife ponds. For more information on how to create your own wildlife pond no matter the size of your garden go to the links below.

You’ve also spotted one of our top predators who can turn their webbed paws to making fish, waterbird, amphibians and crustaceans their dinner, the European Otter which was seen in northern Derbyshire.

As we continue through into the second half of the year we are looking forward to hearing about more of the awesome wildlife and plants you’ve spotted across Derbyshire. To submit your own sighting and be featured in a future blog go to www.derbyshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlife/record-sighting. Maybe you’ve seen more bees and butterflies in your garden whilst taking part in our Grow Don’t Mow campaign, post your photos and get inspired on social media using #growdontmow. To find out more information go to www.derbyshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/grow-dont-mow.

How to build a pond: www.wildlifetrusts.org/actions/how-build-pond

How to create a mini pond: www.wildlifetrusts.org/actions/how-create-mini-pond

Thank you to Chris Jackson, Jean Bennett, Virginia Leedham, Aisha Gilbert, Kevin Leach, Mark Hatch, Robert Collins and Julie Howarth for recording their sightings.