August 2026

Another good day for butterfly numbers, with Chalk Hill Blue probably now outnumbering Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus) and Meadow Brown (Maniola ...

A largely overcast and quite breezy morning so not too many insects on the wing. Most of the butterflies I ...

I only walked paths along woodland edges today, so my observations of butterfly abundance would be strongly influenced by that ...

By my reckoning this is Day 50 without rain – well a couple of spits and spots that didn’t last ...

Drought Day 53. It seems like many insects have just given up. Walking along the woodland paths even three days ...

Hardly drought-breaking rain, but a few light showers overnight end exactly 8 weeks without rain. Apart from a few water ...

A pleasant day for walking, with the maximum temperature forecast at the lowest for at least a month, only 20°C, ...

Another pleasant day for walking, with a strong easterly breeze countering the continuing high humidity. Insect numbers were yet again ...

Even fewer butterflies on the wing today but I was stirring them into action from their resting places in the ...

Twenty-four hours since the first meaningful rain in 9 weeks and there is definitely a fresher look to the Downs ...

After some substantial rain in the past few days there was a refreshing greenness to the Downs again this morning ...