Wildlife-friendly gardening has an impact: DWT’s Jack Clarke takes a closer look at how your green space can help local species thrive this August

Large or small, your garden or green space can make a real difference to local wildlife – the way you choose to care for your garden really does matter!
Collectively, wildlife-friendly spaces, no matter how small, act as mini stepping stones across our towns and villages, helping wildlife find food, water, shelter and places to breed. Even the smallest space like a window box can encourage and support a variety of fascinating insects, contributing to a thriving ecosystem.
In August, look out for the beautiful hummingbird hawk moth. It’s a summer visitor from southern Europe and north Africa, and its numbers vary year on year depending on weather conditions. With its hovering flight and long tongue, this amazing daytime moth is sometimes mistaken for a small exotic bird, hence its name.
Cinnabar moths are also ‘out and about’ this month. Their larvae are one of many species which rely solely on the leaves and stems of ragwort for food. Ragwort flowers are an amazing pollen and nectar source for many insects, including butterflies, beetles and solitary bees. Often stripped from fields and paddocks, ragwort can pose a health threat to grazing livestock. But in a garden or wild space it is an amazing food plant, supporting more than 200 species – so please do think before you ‘weed’!
Also on the wing this month is the holly blue butterfly. In Dorset, it is warm enough for them to have two generations a year, so the ones we see now are the offspring of the adults you might have spotted in the spring.

Shake some heads
Top nectar sources for insects in August include succulent sedums, tasty marjoram and colourful rudbeckias. If you spot gaps in your borders, pop in a few perennials like salvias or asters which will provide sources of pollen and nectar through late summer and into autumn. And do deadhead plants in pots or baskets to keep the flowers coming. Some roses, such as Rosa canina and Rosa setipoda, will produce hips if you don’t remove all the spent flowers. This will give you a much-enjoyed splash of colour through the winter but could be a genuine life saver for hungry birds and small mammals. Many earlier flowering plants, such as foxglove and sweet William, will have set seed by now – it’s a good idea to collect and save some for future sowing. Choose a dry day and just shake the seed heads into a paper bag. Seed will keep for several years if stored in a cool dry place, but if you have too much, remember to share with friends!
Not all seeds will store well though – for example yellow rattle, sometimes known as the ‘meadow maker’, is best sown fresh between now and the end of the year.
For more wildlife-friendly gardening advice, visit dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlife-friendly-garden

Wildlife writer Jane Adams explores sundews – Dorset’s carnivorous plants – and Darwin’s fascination with their deadly allure

In a letter dated 1860, the renowned naturalist Charles Darwin wrote to a friend, “… at the present moment, I care more about Drosera than the origin of all the species in the world.”
It would be reasonable to assume Darwin was writing about a rare exotic bird, or maybe a species of tortoise … but no, he was actually getting worked up about a carnivorous plant, more commonly known as the sundew.
Carnivorous plants have always fascinated me. When I was a child, I was given a Venus flytrap and fed it live prey with tweezers. I remember watching as its hinged leaves closed around each struggling fly that buzzed for a while – and then went ominously quiet.
While I’m glad I’ve moved on from this gruesome hobby, I’m still amazed at how a rooted plant has evolved to entice, ensnare and ultimately devour another living creature for extra nutrients.
Surprisingly, Dorset is home to three native species of sundew: the round-leaved, oblong-leaved and the rare great sundew. Though far from common, all three species like the moist and infertile soils of Dorset’s boggy lowland heaths. Look for them growing quite close to the ground (their maximum height is 20cm), where their red-tinged leaves sparkle in the summer sunshine, making them easier to spot.
If you do come across one and kneel for a closer look, you will also notice hair-like structures on each leaf adorned with a droplet of liquid ‘dew’. Drawn by this deadly glistening lure, insects soon become stuck in the sticky glue. Then the sundew wraps its leaf around the prey, secretes digestive enzymes – and the unsuspecting insects are turned into a nutritious soup.
As Darwin exclaimed, ‘By Jove, I sometimes think Drosera is a disguised animal!’
Is there a triffid lurking right under our noses in Dorset, albeit in a minuscule form?
It’s an intriguing thought.

Ancient sundew folklore:
Woodpeckers use the dew to harden their bills
Dew from the plant, known as a source of youth and virility, can be used in anti-aging potions
The plant can be used as a love charm because it has the power to lure and entrap its prey