August at Willsbridge

Sunday 24th

Butterflies
The late speckled wood emergence has begun with one or two fresh individuals seen. Fresh red admirals were seen browsing the buddliea. Plenty of large whites still around. Only a few gatekeepers left now, all looking a bit tired.
A male summer comma seen in the garden, also past his best.

Dragonflies
Damselflies are finished for the summer I think as I saw none. A single southern hawker female investigated the garden pond briefly but didn't stop to lay. Maybe it's a bit too cluttered at present?
Common darters are less fussy and several males were hanging around there, along with a single female whose tail still held a droplet of water following ovipositing. Around four male CDs were also seen squabbling over the mill pond. I was suprised not to see any southern hawker males over the mill pond, but there's still time provided we get a few sunny spells.

Wednesday 27th
The last of the summer holiday events, Wild About Trees saw many of the regulars from the previous events although the weather was not kind, yet again. The light was awful but there was still a little insect activity in the garden with large and green veined whites, gatekeeper and meadow brown. A mating pair of common darters proved too elusive to photograph. One of the volunteers found a female stag beetle. As mentioned by separate email, photos from all four summer events at Willsbridge may be viewed at http://mike.photos.gb.net.
If you click on a thumbnail of a photo it'll display at normal size. Click on it again to view full size in the Windows viewer. You may need to click on it a second time to toggle the largest size. If you then right click on the image you have the option to download the picture. All AWT members who attended the events are free to download as many of the images that they wish in this way.

Thursday
Took a late afternoon visit when the clouds began to break around 3:30pm. Just a few large whites and a speckled wood were seen in the garden plus a total of four common darter males in the garden and over the mill pond. A tiny toad (toadlet?) was spotted in the garden.

Finally, who on earth pruned the buddliea behind the barn? There were still blooms left on this bush but it was cut right back to base level. The nectar is a vital fuelling station for many insect species overwintering peacocks and red admirals. In any case, the end of August is hardly the time to cut these shrubs back.
I am not a gardening expert but would suggest cutting the bush near the disabled parking point in late January early February so that this one flowers first. This area is in shadow by mid afternoon in late summer so earlier flowering would be more advantageous. The one behind the barn where it catches late summer sunshine should be left until March before pruning back so that it flowers in late August. I have been informed that picking off dead flowerheads regularly will encourage new flowers well into Autumn.

Mike.