September

September is a month during which nature begins its gradual shutdown in preparation for winter with most of the summer's butterflies gone. But Dragonflies are still around. Common darters have proliferated around the ponds and elsewhere during the month with sunshine holding up throughout the month. Common darters are long lived dragonflies, quite hardy, and can be seen well into October. You will often see them flat on south facing footpaths soaking up the ground warmth.

Late emerging comma butterflies can sometimes be seen sipping from overripe blackberries or from fermenting fallen apples, but I haven't seen any for the last week or so of the month so it looks like they're already slipping into hibernation.Female and male southern hawkers have been seen around the garden and mill ponds.


A common darter male patrolling his 'patch' over the garden pond.
He will retreat to stone paths to warm up on cooler days then make regular forays to the pond in search of visiting females.
He will battle with other males in impressive low level aerial displays to maintain his territory.






A female common darter. Females do not usually have this reddish colouration, but note the spur near the tail which males do not possess. I snapped her just as she was finishing off a meal of a small insect. She is now waiting by the pond for a mate before laying eggs (ovipositing) in the pond.

August

Summer is past its peak and the nights will soon be drawing in but there is still activity in the Willsbridge reserve. Southern hawkers and common darters can be seen around the park when the sun shines. Females visit the ponds to mate and lay eggs (oviposit) where the males set up station and wait for them. Males are fiercely territorial at this time, driving off others of their species from their patch of water.Look out also for brown hawker as they are resident along the Avon and regularly travel up the brook to hunt. They are easily recognisable as the only British dragonfly with brown coloured wings, although "brown" is more a beautiful bronze when they reflect the sunlight in flight.Migrant hawker is another occasional visitor at this time of year. Superficially similar to southern but smaller with the characteristic white 'tack' mark at the top of the abdomen.

Late summer nymphalid butterflies are nectaring regularly to build up energy reserves to enable them to hibernate through the winter. Look for them on hemp agrimony and buddleia in the reserve. They happily coexist at this time, sharing nectar souces, as their time to contest territory and mate will be in the spring.
We should also be looking out for third generation painted lady. These are the grandchildren of the ones that crossed the country in huge numbers in May after travelling up through Europe from their native North Africa. They should be larger than the current generation and will be the ones that attempt to migrate south in autumn. Sadly, they are nowhere near as successful as the other great traveller on the other side of the Atlantic, the monarch, and it is thought that most of them will die before reaching their original starting point in North Africa. Make the most of the superb year for this magnificent butterfly. It may be many years before we see such numbers again.
Finally, a reminder that pictures from recent events at Willsbridge can still be found at http://mike.photos.gb.net/. I have placed no restriction on copying images from these events for your personal use so please feel free to do so.





A third generation painted lady. This is a grandchild of one of the huge number of immigrants in May. It is thought that this generation will attempt to make the journey back to North Africa, most of them failing in the attempt.





Common darter male. Look for them around the ponds in the reserve. Females are brownish.








A migrant hawker. These do not breed in the reserve but are regular late summer and autumn visitors. They can be identified by the white 'tack' shaped mark at the top of the abdomen.