A Tropical end to August

Tuesday 29th August 2017 was again very hot and humid here in Sussex despite the forecast for cooler weather. The tropical weather has been good for dragonflies during the last few days whilst numbers of butterflies continued to decrease.  Common Darters, Southern Hawkers, Migrant Hawkers, Brown Hawkers and two Emperor dragonflies have been out along the river banks and ponds with a few Banded Demoiselle Damselflies in dappled shade.

The river was low but flowing well, with riverbank Hazel tree leaves just beginning to turn yellow, some inaccessible branches bearing ripe brown hazelnuts. Hazelnuts are usually the first nuts to appear and are plundered by jays and squirrels well before ripening. Although there seemed to be far fewer Dog Roses flowering in the early summer, the profusion of ripening rose hips indicate that flowering was normal, the flowers perhaps not lasting as long in the heat of the summer. Bramble fruits were still plentiful, in stages from green to over-ripe  - certainly no lack of food for wildlife this autumn. 

Common Darter warming up on the bridge handrail

They can often be seen perching on hard surfaces - stones, rails, paths rather than on leaves.

A butterfly with similar perching preferences is the Red Admiral:

Red Admiral on the track! Watch where you walk and you may be 

rewarded.

It was good to hear robins singing again after the long silent summer, there were 19 along the riverside, most singing strongly, others foraging amongst dry undergrowth in shady hedges. Wrens were still hiding, only 7 were seen, several singing - whilst thin calls gave away three dunnocks, two of them juveniles in the deep shady roots.

The very dry surface of the earth meant that blackbirds and song thrushes had vitally disappeared, with only three blackbirds seen and no song thrushes. These birds need soft muddy ground in which to forage and the best places are low under the shady river banks, close to the surface of the water where they can bathe. The riverside trees and undergrowth being laden with berries, the birds can eat their fill at sunrise and in the evening, spending the hot daylight hours under dense foliage well out of sight.

Out in the open, two jays were having an altercation, with a squirrel joining in - this must have been about territory as the ground lies covered in ripe and unripe acorns, Hazel nuts and Hawthorn berries, far too plentiful for all to be cached or fought over. 

Five magpies were seen and heard, with 31 wood pigeons surveying the scene in various places, a few cooing. Carrion crows usually jolt dozing birds awake with their loud calls but only two were seen today. Loud calls from the sky - about fifty herring gulls in a close group sailed over - but no raptors were seen, the day being uniformly calm, quiet and hot, with no exciting gales or changes in pressure.

There were few finches too - only about 7 goldfinches well hidden in dense shade while a single bullfinch flew across into a blackthorn thicket without a sound. Eventually some house sparrows (26) woke up - but remained in their hedges, on the shady sides - even the sun-loving sparrows were feeling the heat.

The exceptions were the blue tits (65), great tits (36) and long-tailed tits (5) continuously on the move amongst the tree canopies and Sloe-laden Blackthorn thickets, catching insects and investigating fruits. Whilst the weather is warm, insects will be the preferred food.

Warblers on their way:

Looking into conifer trees, instead of goldcrests restlessly foraging, several  smart chiffchaffs were seen busily picking up insects, whilst others foraged low down on the river banks, 10 at least, and one juvenile or female blackcap trying out the Sloes. In the same area, contact calls revealed fresh willow warblers on the move (3) amongst the riverbank willows. On the wild field, whilst observing the butterflies, two young common whitethroats flew out from a bush across the brambles into a willow - they are also on their way now to the south coast where they will wait until the conditions are right for making the crossing to France, beginning a long journey to south of the Sahara. All the migrant warblers need to be constantly feeding up, gaining weight and strength at this time.

Butterflies and other insects:

Speckled Wood butterflies were numerous again, but large numbers of Large White butterflies have also recently appeared, ranging far and fast just about everywhere. There were a few Small Whites too and Red Admiral, several Comma Butterflies but no Gatekeepers. This time Dragonflies were more numerous than butterflies (see beginning of this post).

Small grass moths were seen in the field, with bees, mostly Honeybees on the ragwort.

Spiders:

Spider webs were obstructing pathways everywhere, spun in ideal conditions with no wind or rain to destroy them. These were mostly the work of Garden Spiders. They form a good source of food for  migrating warblers and any small bird.

Late Summer Butterflies and Moths

Numbers of butterflies dwindle as the days become shorter despite warm temperatures. The Meadow Brown butterfly is one of the longest-flying - usually appearing around the end of May and can still be seen at the beginning of October. It can therefore use a variety of food plants throughout the summer.

This late summer Meadow Brown is nectaring on a Thistle - a very popular plant for large numbers of insects when it flowers after midsummer food plants go to seed - a Bumble bee was sharing the flower with the butterfly:

The Meadow Brown flew off whilst the White-tailed Bumble bee (Bombus lucorum) buried its head in the flower.

Gatekeeper butterflies have a shorter flying time, usually from the end of June until the beginning of September.  They can vary a lot in size, the male usually being smaller than the female, but the easiest way to distinguish them is by upper wing markings:

Female Gatekeeper on brambles - the upper wings lack the  dark brown band markings seen on the male upper wing:

Male Gatekeeper on Bramble flowers - the difference is very easy to see when the butterfly is  basking and its slowish flight makes it easy to track. Fresh bright Meadow Brown butterflies can sometimes look like Gatekeepers at a distance but close-up can be seen to have single white 'pupils'

in the fore-wing black eye spots whereas the Gatekeepers have two white 'pupils' in each eye spot as in the photo of the female.

Unseen Creatures amongst the long grasses:

in looking for butterflies which fly off over the grasses at the last minute, more activity comes to light in the form of grasshoppers, crickets and Micro Moths  - the area is teeming with life normally invisible.

Moths - especially the Grass Moths -  small Micro moths are difficult to see close up and record in the field

- what are they called? In total, there are more than 2,500 Macro and Micro moths named, with new ones being listed each year, perhaps due to the changing climate.. 

 I haven't found out the names of these two - yet:

Nameless - is it a Wave? perching on the underside of a flowering Nettle stalk

Nectaring on Ragwort - another very popular food plant -

havent found out the name as yet. It's quite small with the wingspan 

less than the diameter of a flower head.

   

The Wind and Rain of August

Early August started as it meant to go on, with strong winds and heavy rain showers. Sunday 6th August 2017 was very damp after heavy rain and thunderstorms the previous day, with dew on the grass and the river running higher and more swiftly. An early start to this short survey - but the sunshine didn't last before fair-weather cumulus clouds moved in. Fruits and berries were ripening fast however. The wind direction unusual, blowing straight into usually most sheltered areas. The rain had brought a spurt of growth along the banks and hedgerows which helped to form low shelter however - and tall grasses were teeming with grass moths, spiders and grasshoppers again. During sunny intervals butterflies suddenly appeared too:

 Common Blue butterfly (Polyommatus icarus)  basking after very wet weather. The white edges of its wings have been worn away but it was a strong flyer over the vegetation.

A Garden spider, one of many seen today, was making its way along the

strong web strand secured to dry Dock stems towards the centre of the web which held

a pre-wrapped unidentifiable insect prey. 

Woodpigeons (about 30) were cooing lazily from trees or sitting along the fences and two collared doves flew off from the top of a Blackthorn thicket. Six magpies were present at various locations along the river together with three carrion crows.  

Ideal terrain conditions for Blackbirds (16) this morning meant that most were visible foraging on the wet grass, with a single Song thrush, whilst a few were sampling ripe Sloes on the Blackthorn. Most robins were still in hiding with only five seen, some giving short songs. Wrens were also scarce, only 6 seen - but all of them singing, joined by two silent dunnocks amongst the river bank roots.

Eventually, as the day warmed up, house sparrows (about 50) woke up too and started to sing in their hedges. Two juvenile greenfinches were seen and only one chaffinch, all silent.

Walking further along the riverbank, reaching an area with a large old maple next to an old oak, the trees suddenly revealed large numbers of very active small birds, about 40 blue tits,  twenty great tits and more than 30 Goldfinches - these singing. The blue tits (total seen today about 70) and great tits (total seen today about 30) were in a roaming flock and within a few minutes had moved on.

These birds were quiet, but calls heard high in the canopy revealed 4 long-tailed tits. 

The area these birds were moving through contained Hazels, Oaks, Maples, Ash, Blackthorn, Hawthorn, Rosa canina, Elder, with nettles and brambles growing on the opposite banks. It also contained a sparrowhawk seen a few minutes later circling over the wild field and river, the sun shining through its translucent wing feathers - no shortage of prey today as many of the small birds were juveniles.

These birds are resident here but a few migrant warblers were still present, two blackcaps and three calling chiffchaffs were seen.

The best sighting was of a pair of bullfinches sat together on low bramble stems on the bank, the male very bright. 

One pied wagtail and two herring gulls were seen in flight over the river and a nuthatch was heard calling from an oak.

Dragonflies:

Male Common Darter Dragonfly on the warm and sheltered stony path.

It was watching a small fly  zipping back and forth - only its head moved, its eyes following the fly.

Although very windy, dragonflies were flying in most places, with strong-flying Southern Hawkers, Migrant Hawkers, Common Darters, and Banded Demoiselle Damselflies under the shelter of river banks.

Butterflies:

as with the dragonflies, most butterflies were keeping to sheltered areas - Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns, large numbers of Speckled Woods (about 45) in wooded places and tall hedgerows, a few Common Blues on the tall field grasses, Commas, Red Admiral, Silver-washed Frittilary and last but not least, Brown Hairstreak butterflies - four or five on the high canopy of a mature Ash tree  amongst other trees on the more sheltered morning sunny side, flying erratically fast-disappearing into the foliage then reappearing.

This was intended just to observe butterflies and dragonflies - but large numbers of moths were seen too.

See future August post.