UK wildlife in July: what to see, and where

Happening in July

• Puffin season
  Puffins are back on Skomer, bills full of sand eels, with razorbills and guillemots on the cliffs. Puffin, razorbill and guillemot
• Swifts
  Swifts are back from Africa, screaming over the rooftops. Swift
• Summer butterfly count
  Mid-July to early August: fifteen minutes counting butterflies in the sunshine, anywhere. Red admiral, peacock, silver-washed fritillary and swallowtail

Moments worth waiting for

What the animals are up to this month, the most seasonal first.

• Spiral courtship flight Silver-washed fritillary · day
  A male loops in wide spirals above a female, showering her with scent while she rests on a leaf.
• Fulmar chick on the ledge Fulmar · day
  A fluffy grey fulmar chick sits tight on its ledge while its parent glides back along the cliff.
• Fawns Fallow deer · dawn and dusk
  A spotted fawn, tucked motionless in the bracken, its mother watching from the tree line.
• Puffin with sand eels Puffin · day and dusk
  A puffin lands with a shining row of sand eels dangling from its bill, stops for a moment and vanishes down its burrow.
• Ledge jumpers Guillemot · dusk and dawn
  A chick shuffles to the edge and tumbles out, whirring tiny wings as it plops into the sea beside its father.
• Froglet exodus Common frog · day and dusk
  Hundreds of thumbnail-sized froglets hop from the pond edge into the wet grass after a summer shower.
• Jumpling day Razorbill · dusk and dawn
  A downy chick pauses on the ledge, then leaps, fluttering to the sea with its father calling from the water below.
• The valezina form Silver-washed fritillary · day
  Among the orange butterflies, one female glows an unusual bronze-green: the rare valezina.
• Male display Beautiful demoiselle · day
  A male flashes his blue wings over a riffle, guarding his patch of stream from rivals.
• Roe rut Roe deer · dawn and dusk
  A buck chases a doe in tight circles through the bracken, barking hoarsely, leaving a pounded ring behind them.
• Males wrestling Stag beetle · dusk
  Two males lock jaws on a log and heave, trying to flip each other, while a female watches.
• Host feeding a giant chick Cuckoo · day
  A tiny reed warbler crams a caterpillar into the gaping mouth of a chick four times its size.
• Perching Norfolk hawker · day
  A male settles on reed.
• Bittern feeding flight Bittern · dawn, day and dusk
  A bittern rises above the reeds on broad, owl-like wings with a fish for hungry young.
• Fledglings and parents Stonechat · dawn and day
  A male stonechat clings to gorse with food in his bill while fluffy spotted fledglings call from the bush.
• Cubs at play Red fox · dusk and dawn
  Three cubs tumble out of the earth and pounce on each other's tails.
• Screaming party Swift · dusk
  A gang of swifts sweeps round the rooftops at speed, shrieking, then rockets skywards.
• Roost emergence Common pipistrelle · dusk
  Bats stream from a gap under the roof tiles one by one and vanish into the dusk.
• Food pass Marsh harrier · day
  The male carries prey over the nest; the female rises, rolls and takes it mid-air.
• Fawns in the reeds Chinese water deer · dawn and dusk
  A tiny spotted fawn lies frozen in the sedge as its mother feeds nearby.
• Hovering inspection Southern hawker · day
  A southern hawker hovers half a metre from your lens, then zips away along the hedge.
• Owlet on a branch Tawny owl · dusk and night
  A fluffy owlet clambers up a trunk, squeaking like a rusty gate for its parent.
• Mother and hoglets Hedgehog · dusk and night
  A mother hedgehog leads several pale, soft-spined hoglets across the lawn.
• Churring and wing-clapping Nightjar · dusk and night
  A male churrs from a dead branch, then flings up, clapping his wings twice like a whip crack.

Where to look

At their best in July, quickest to see first, with the best time of day.

Rare visitors

Not here most of the time, but July is when these can turn up: European bee-eater, rose-coloured starling, humpback whale and snowy owl.

Moths on the wing

Coming to a garden moth trap in July: Large yellow underwing, heart and dart, angle shades, elephant hawk-moth, poplar hawk-moth, privet hawk-moth, eyed hawk-moth, buff-tip, peppered moth, garden tiger, Jersey tiger, burnished brass, brimstone moth, swallow-tailed moth, green carpet and rosy footman. All the moths, and how to trap them kindly.