WHILE most of us have been enjoying the glorious warm weather, some of our nature reserves are becoming rather harsh places to be.

The sandy soils of the heathland reserves like the Rifle Range and Vicarage Farm are extremely poor at holding moisture, and while the vegetation may still be lush and green after the rains we saw a few weeks ago, the ground is fast becoming parched.

The Rifle Range especially, can become quite uncomfortable as both the valley that it sits in and the sand trap the heat. Any resident creatures need to be highly specialised in order to thrive.

Most of the typical heathland inhabitants that we see are the sun loving reptiles and invertebrates that help make these areas special, in the early morning they can be seen basking on the bare sandy areas soaking up the warmth from the morning sun.

Once they reach the required temperature they move off into the dense heather or scrub to hunt or forage. One such example is the common lizard, also known as the viviparous lizard. Its alternative name stems from the fact that it gives birth to live, fully developed young, rather than laying eggs. The young develop inside the mother within soft egg membranes, which they usually break free from before birth using their heads rather than an egg tooth that most baby reptiles use.

If you see a lizard before it reaches its optimum temperature, they can appear quite sluggish, however once their sunbathing is over, they become one of the quickest creatures on four legs. Most people's only experience of this creature is a greenish/brown flash as they dart into the undergrowth.

I spotted one of our other heathland sprinting champions the recently. Again on the Rifle Range, while walking along one of the sandy paths, I was greeted by a blurred metallic green flying insect. It was too fast to clearly make out what it was but experience told me it could only be one thing.

I followed to where I thought it had landed, and true enough, sat in the top of a heather plant was a true heathland specialist, a green tiger beetle, one of the fastest land invertebrates.

They are a stunning iridescent green, with creamy coloured spots and large eye.

In addition, they have formidable jaws, which they use to grasp and eat the insects they catch using their incredible speed.

The larvae of the beetle are also quite remarkable, and rely on the sandy soils present on the heath to build the burrow in which it lives.

It constructs a vertical tunnel and positions its self with just the top of its head at the surface.

The insect lies in wait like this, patiently awaiting another small hapless insect to blunder close by, then in a flash they dart out to seize it.

Without the sandy patches that are characteristic of the heaths these wonderful creatures would perish, and much work is carried out on all our heathland sites to maintain and create this habitat.

On the very same visit, I stumbled across one of the site's slowest invertebrates.

Slowly bumbling across the sandy path was a large (well by British standards) millipede.

Its Latin name is Schizophyllum sabulosum it unfortunately has no common name. As millipedes go, it is actually quite an attractive little beast, glossy black with a pinkish orange stripe all the way along its back.

It is a very rare sight to witness this creature out in the blazing sunshine; they are normally nocturnal, preferring the comfort of the cooler, damp evenings.