SKYLARK SUE’S REFLECTIONS OF NATURE 

August 2013

 August brings the sheaves of corn,
Then the harvest home is borne.

 

Peacock butterflies on the buddleia

The last couple of months have been so hot that in many cases the harvest has been gathered in really early. I noticed hay bales in July, while during the first couple of weeks of August it seemed that there was a combine harvester in practically every field, and vistas of stubble shining gold in the sun. The hot weather continued into August, giving us even more butterflies and dragonflies; it has been the best summer for many years.

Comma

 

Small White

Buzzard

August 1^st proved to be an exceptionally hot day, the hottest day of the year so far – and as we had already experienced temperatures in the eighties, the heat on the 1^st was almost unbearable, it was into the 90s. It suited the butterflies though, the buddleia (which isn’t a very large bush) had at least fifteen on it an any one time, sometimes more.  Most of the butterflies were peacocks, but there were also plenty of whites and a few commas and gatekeepers. There were some dragonflies around too, and a bird of prey soared overhead. On inspection, it proved to be a buzzard, which was, I think, a first for the garden!

Sun bathing robin

 The circular wire mesh food feeder is a veritable suntrap and today a robin and a blackbird were taking it in turns to sunbathe, spreading their wings and opening their beaks. The next day, ants began to swarm taking to the skies in the hope of mating with the new queen ants. On the following day, August 2^nd, there were some enormous claps of thunder, followed by heavy rain.

 

Large White on the apples

 

August 3^rd, continued warm and sunny with still plenty of butterflies. Sometimes the large and small whites settled on the apple tree, which is laden with fruit. Maybe they are feeding on some of the apples that the wasps or birds have pecked to reveal the juicy flesh under the skin.

 

Common Darter on my hat!

High Flyer Moth

 

Reed Dagger Caterpillar

A trip to Wicken Fen, near Ely, on 6^th August, revealed hundreds of peacock butterflies. Many were sunning themselves on the boardwalk, fluttering up as people approached and settling back behind them. There were blue and emerald damselflies, and various dragonflies. One common darter landed on my hat and stayed there for some time, like a large ornamental brooch. There were also speckled woods, meadow browns and a white speckled moth which I learned was a ‘High Flyer’. Whilst waking along by the reed beds I spotted a quite rare reed dagger caterpillar. It was, as the name implies, feeding on reed, and was quite large and handsome, coloured red and yellow.

 It is intriguing walking along the boardwalk through the reedbeds, especially when there is no one else around. The reeds rustle gently in the breeze; it feels timeless.

 

Emerald Damselfly

 

 

Pondskaters

 

 

Greater Spotted Woodpecker

Swallows were nesting in the bird hide, so the door had to be permanently left open to enable them to fly in and out, and birds on the feeders included goldfinches, chaffinches and a great spotted woodpecker. There were lots of pond skaters in the river. These strange creatures glide across the water on cushions of air, often moving very quickly using their middle and back legs to propel themselves, while their short front legs are used to seize insects that have fallen into the water.

 

The beautiful wild flower meadow at Abberton Reservoir

Painted Lady

Common Blue

Blue damselfly

The next day I was at Abberton Nature Reserve, near Colchester, I hadn’t been there before. It is still being worked on, but is an excellent place to visit. It was there that I saw my first painted lady butterfly of the year, a welcome sight. There were also common blues, peacocks, whites, meadow browns, gatekeepers and a plethora of common blue damselflies. The wildflower meadow is pretty, and was certainly attractive to the insects. Many of the damselflies were mating. In the pond near the visitors’ centre were some water boatman or back swimmers. When viewed from above it looks as though these strange insects are rowing as their two longest legs resemble oars.

 

Female damselfly

Water boatman

 

Young red squirrel

August 11^th found me at the British Wildlife Centre at Lingfield, Surrey. This wonderful place enables you to see many British mammals close up, and as usual the red squirrel enclosure was my first port of call. There I stayed for a long while, enjoying the beautiful creatures as they scampered around the grass, the fencing, and, sometimes, over me as well! There were also muntjac, roe, red and fallow deer as well as badgers, foxes, wildcats, otters and many other creatures. As usual the otters were playful and entertaining.

 

Marsh Frog

Reed Warbler

 

 Later I walked along the boardwalk through the wetlands, where there were various dragonflies, butterflies and several reed warblers.

 

Moorhens on the water lilies

The following day I went for a walk around the grounds of Anglesey Abbey in Cambridge. There weren’t so many butterflies around, though I saw a speckled wood by the pond. The millstream was thick with duckweed, and there were a couple of moorhen families that were walking across the leaves of the yellow water lilies. I spotted a mouse run across the path in the winter gardens. A grey squirrel was down in our garden today, they haven't been around lately.

Grey squirrel visits our garden

There were lots of birds in the garden on August 13^th. When you consider that we have a very small garden, measuring only approx. 15ft x 15ft, it was very satisfying to see sparrows, dunnock, blackbirds, robin, starling, blue tits and great tits all down at once. In the late afternoon a fire broke out at some nearby garages, and the smoke swirled around the oak tree across the road opposite the garden, creating an ethereal, misty look. The 14^th continued warm and sunny – there will be an excellent apple crop this year. Our tree is really laden and the boughs are already bending with the weight of the fruit. On the 16^th, it rained – the garden needed it.

Smoke haze through the tres

 

18^th of August – the heat continues. There was a large moth tucked into the folds of the garden parasol, and I believe it to be a large orange underwing. A very tiny brown and yellow moth was obligingly resting on a tub of mint, giving a clue to its name. It was a mint moth, and we have had a lot of them about lately.

 I have a large stapelia cactus, which is kept in the conservatory in winter but in summer goes into the garden. It has spectacular crimson hair-covered flowers which give off the smell of rotting meat, to attract insects. It was attracting bluebottles who were laying their eggs on the blooms.

 

Mint Moth

Flies laying eggs on Stapelia

 

Warming up on the tiles

Common Blue

 

 

A trip to Hatfield Forest on August 19^th coincided with the period that the thistles were shedding their seeds – the air was full of thistledown. A large buddleia bush near the shell house was attracting small tortoiseshells and peacock butterflies, which were then flying to a nearby tiled roof and sitting with their wings open. Apparently, butterflies don’t have blood in their wings so they are not warming their wings in the sun – they are actually absorbing the heat of the tiles through their bodies. Other butterflies around included common blue, gatekeepers and skippers, and there were a beautiful pair of creamy yellow brimstones on a thistle at the edge of the wood.

 

Fallow deer

 

Conkers were forming on the chestnut trees and there was a good crop of acorns on the oaks. Blackberries were ripening already, they seem early this year. It seems there will be bumper crops of many fruits and berries, so hopefully if we have a bad winter there will still be food for the birds. As we walked along the path by the lake, we could see a small herd of fallow deer that had left the woodland and were exploring a field that had just been harvested.

 

 

 

 

That evening we had a torchlight search of the garden, discovering a large frog as well as the usual slugs and snails.

 It's surprising what you discover in the garden at night, and the torchlight gives the garden a totally new dimension. There are usually plenty of spiders and insects, as well as the ubiquitous snails and slugs. Moths flutter by, and torchlight often picks out caterpillarss that remain hidden in the daytime.

 

We seem to be getting more and more sparrows in the garden, which is a good thing. They like to perch in the pyracantha bush at the end of the garden. Presumably they feel safe there, and are out of the way of the sparrowhawk which sometimes flies over and has been known to snatch sparrows from the top of a shelter in our garden. On the 20^th August, there were several sparrows bathing in the fountain when a female blackbird suddenly came down, chased them away and claimed the fountain for herself. There were a family of long-tailed tits in the apple tree on the 24^th August thought they didn’t stay around for long. On a trip to the town centre I was surprised to see a pair of cormorants, one in the classic wings outstretched pose, sitting in a tree in a field near the road.

 

Elephant Hawk Moth Caterpillar on Fucshia

The next day we discovered an enormous elephant hawk moth caterpillar on one of the fuchsia bushes in the front garden. It was very spectacular with the large ‘eye’ markings that make it resemble a snake, particularly when it raised its head warningly. It gets the ‘elephant’ part of its name it from its size but because when it feeds the front mouthparts from a kind of trunk.

 

Comb footed spider and eggs

 

 

At last there were several ladybirds around, too, though certainly not as many as we usually see in the summer. It was still very hot and sunny. There was a very attractive red and white spider, with a bag of eggs, in the garden. I believe it was a comb footed spider, and there were other spiders and weevils around too . In the evening there was a large newt on the garden path, as well as various types of snails including some with cream and brown stripes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day we discovered at least three more elephant hawk moth caterpillars on the fuchsia hedge. Despite their large size, they are extremely well camouflaged, blending in with the stems. Ours were the brown variety, but sometimes green variations turn up. A brimstone butterfly appeared in the garden several times, and there was a dragonfly that perched on the apple tree. A trip to a local garden centre revealed plenty of small tortoiseshells taking advantage of the flowers there.

 

 

 

 

On the 28^th August, a speckled wood had found its way indoors and was sitting by the widow frame. A further trip to Wicken Fen the same day led to sightings of hundreds of swallows and martins gathering along the phone wires and pylons, swooping around the trees and skimming the pond. The air was filled with their cries and squeaks.  There was a moorhen perched on a branch by the lake, I have seen it there before so it must be a favourite spot. In contrast to our last visit three weeks ago, the feeders were almost empty. There were still several kinds of dragonflies around, including a brown hawker laying her eggs in the water. Butterflies included speckled woods and small tortoiseshells, and there were a flock of sparrows bathing in a small pond.  Wasps had invaded the café area, all around the outdoor tables and even venturing inside, much to the annoyance of those eating their lunch!

 

Brown Hawker depositing eggs in water

 

Speckled Wood

30^th August showed that the elephant hawk moth caterpillars were still around, though seemingly ready to pupate as they were getting lower to the ground. They will form their chrysalis in the earth and hatch into magnificent large green and cerise pink moth s next year.

 

This August has been the hottest, driest and sunniest for many years, and certainly this summer has been the best for a long time as far as butterflies and dragonflies are concerned. However, it has also proved a tragic month for one of our best-loved and iconic mammals, the badger. Due to the possibility that these creatures are responsible for the spread of bovine TB, a partial cull has been instigated in a few counties, despite the fact that the majority of scientists and naturalists have argued that the cull will not halt the spread of the disease. It may in fact encourage it to spread further as badgers move from the culling zones into other, already existing setts. We can only hope that this cull is proved to have no effect on the spread of the disease, and that a vaccine can be developed, one which will be permitted to be used on cattle.