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September 2019 September 2019
have most commonly been seen near to Souls Moor bridge and typically nibbling Three cheers for the Bere
on vegetation. The water vole is well known for its role in Kenneth Grahame's
children's story, The Wind in the Willows. Despite being called ‘Ratty in this tale, Regis Community Bus !
the water vole is not a rat and is to be welcomed. Indeed, the book depicts the Pop In Place had a great outing last
water vole as cultured, relaxed and friendly, enjoying a life of leisure. It is great month to Holme for Gardens, it was a
news to see the water vole back locally. It was once a common sight along our lovely sunny day and the garden was
streams with an estimated UK population of 8 million in the early 1900’s, which has beautiful everyone had a fantastic
since declined to only 100,000. This decline has come about through a
time ! followed by lunch in the Orchard
combination of habitat loss, predation primarily by mink but also domestic cats Café afterwards. Next trip to the beach
and disturbance by humans and dogs. They rely on uncut stream margins with on the evening of Monday 2
nd
lush vegetation providing them with plenty of food and cover from predators. The September
water vole has chestnut-brown fur, a blunt, rounded nose, small ears, and a furry

tail. The effects of their foraging for food and creating burrows are highly
beneficial to other wildlife and biodiversity. Please Check out Pop In Place
Website popinplace.org
Moths Thanks to Rod Osmond who has
Moths are plentiful – there are some 800 species of so-called ‘macro’ or larger updated our website and it is looking
moths to be found in the UK and many more ‘micro’ moths bringing the total great check it out
number of different species to some 2,500. This compares to just 58 species of UK Alison Bennett
butterflies. We are very fortunate to see many butterflies around Bere Regis. Why,
then, do we see so few moths? The obvious answer is that most moths fly at night. Telephone 01929 472023
There are, though, some day-flying moths
that can be seen. Three very distinctive
and attractive moth species have been
seen locally. They are:
Humming bird hawk moth – this is most
easily identified when seen feeding. As its
name suggests it hovers as does a
humming bird, extending its proboscis to
suck up nectar before darting to another
flower. Its
brown / orange wings have a span of about two

inches. It may be seen throughout the summer, but
is more commonly seen later in the summer as the
population builds;

Scarlet tiger moth – again with a wing span of
about two inches, this moth displays flashes of red
from its underwings when in flight. At rest the dark
forewings with white and yellow spots are most
evident. They are seen in June and July;
Jersey tiger moth – once restricted to the Channel
Islands and parts of the south coast, colonies are
now to be found in Dorset, so for it to be seen in

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