Wildlife
In addition to the beautiful landscape and varied plants Hestercombe is also a little patch of paradise for native wildlife.
As you walk the gardens it is not unusual to catch a glimpse of a flicking white tail as roe deer bound way at your approach or hear the rustle of leaves as common lizards busily go about their daily business of bug hunting. With a range of habitats on offer.
Hestercombe provides a fantastic place to live for a wide and varied assortment of our native animals. Many species have been recorded on site, we have listed just a few. If when you visit, you spot something you feel is worthy of us listing then please do let us know by contacting Andy Holden - andyholden@hestercombe.com
Scarlet Tiger Moth
Appears during June - July in Southern Britain. It is a large moth, forewing shiny black with white and yellow blotches and hindwings mostly red. Found in marshes, damp
meadows, coastal undercliff, riverbanks and roadsides. Often near comfrey or
nettles.
Latin name: Callimorpha dominula
Family group: Tigers, Ermines, Footmen and allies (Arctiids)
This tropical-looking moth is very distinctive.
Rarely, individuals with yellow hindwings or yellow spots on the forewings
occur, and in some forms the hindwings may be extensively black.
This species is predominantly confined to south
and west England and Wales with two isolated populations in Kent. Several
individuals have been found on Jersey in the last 20 years but it is not known
whether it is resident.
Frequently flies in sunshine, particularly in
late afternoon and early evening for the males. Can also be found during the
day resting on leaves. Also flies at night.
Mammals
- Roe deer - Capreolus capreolus
- Fox - Vulpes vulpes
- Badger - Meles meles
- Rabbit - Oryctolagus cuniculus
- Lesser horseshoe bat
- and other bats...
Birds
- Buzzards (nesting)
- Buteo buteo
- Sparrowhawk
- Nuthatch
- and many more
Reptiles/Amphibians/Fish
- Common lizard - Lacerta vivipara
- Grass snake - Natrix natrix
- Common frog - Rana temporaria
- Common toad Bufo bufo
- Rudd (Box pond) Scardinius erythrophthalmus
- 3 spined stickleback (Formal Garden) Gasterosteus aculeatus
Invertebrates
There are literally thousands of species of invertebrates living in the Gardens, we have just listed some of the more obvious, striking or unusual ones. In a recent moth survey carried out by the British Butterfly Conservation Society they recorded 84 different species of moth in just 3 nights! Scarlet tiger moth - Callimorpha dominula - a fairly rare and unusual moth, the larvae feed mainly on comfrey; Meadow grasshopper- Chorthippus parallelus, a pretty green grasshopper often heard before seen!
