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.