Autumn Approaches - a Summary of August

The extremes of late July thankfully over, the riverside resumed its gentle progression into autumn with huge numbers of bees (many species) and Gatekeeper butterflies on the creeping thistles and native wild flowers and grasses. Although not a first in this area, some Emerald Damselflies (Lestes sponsa) were seen in the river where they seldom appear due probably to the flow of the water. This August there was a section of slow-moving water for a while until the rain came.The dense aquatic vegetation protected them. Male and female Banded and Beautiful Demoiselle Damselflies were seen in the usual places along the river and banks when the sun shone and some were even seen over the river at the new East Arun bridge construction site where it was sheltered from the wind by temporary walkways for the construction workers. Their presence is a good indication of water quality.

During the second week of August occasional cloudbursts cooled the air but conditions remained mostly warm and humid. After some heavy rain on 9th Gatekeeper butterflies thronged the thistle and bramble patches and a Small Copper butterfly was seen too amidst the more common butterflies such as Large Whites and Meadow Browns. Moths were emerging from their sheltered grasses when the sun appeared.

The Small Copper is easy to identify - not only is it very small but it has 

bright orange forewings and band on the hind wings - with distinctive black spots.

Southern Hawker Dragonflies were quite numerous this year, patrolling their territories along the banks. The weather was a lot cooler on 13th although sunny later.   A walk over a rough area of field with a good variety of wild grasses and flowers proved to hold plenty of interest as many butterflies were seen here. Large Whites, Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers were common but others were quite new, including Common Blues, Small Heath and Brown Argus.

Brown Argus, a very small but distinctive butterfly, very active.

Like the Small Heath, this butterfly was flying low and perching

very near the ground, easy to miss. Two or three others were seen

not far away.

Elsewhere, not far away, thousands of bees, species of Hoverfly, 

and some day-flying moths were seen on creeping thistle, Knapweed, umbellifers

and daisy species.

The following day 14th, it was much cooler with rain most of the time, then on the day of our meet, Sunday morning 18th, everyone out and about was soaked. However house sparrows were singing loudly in a dense hedgerow.

Records for the end of August, including a full survey on 30th will follow soon…