Summer at last

Its the middle of August and it finally feels a bit more like summer. There are still a few Chiffchaffs around including young ones, and I did see one Willow Warbler a few days ago. A Bullfinch was calling in the railway line hedge yesterday. Swallows and House Martins are still feeding over the meadows but I haven't seen any Swifts for a few days. They are usually the last migrants to arrive and the first to leave, so we may have said goodbye to them for this year.

It has not been a good year for butterflies on the meadows this year, much too wet and cool. There have been a few whites and Gatekeepers recently but the numbers of the more colourful varieties such as Small Tortoiseshell and Red Admiral are well down on what they ought to be.

Dragonflies and Damselflies have had a mixed summer. May, June and July were poor, but so far August looks better. There have been good numbers of Emerald Damselflies and yesterday there were at least 8 Common Darter dragonflies in the pond. Also two larger dragonflies were patrolling the pond. One was a Brown Hawker and the other was possibly a Common Hawker but I did not get a clear view of it.