I only walked paths along woodland edges today, so my observations of butterfly abundance would be strongly influenced by that. Meadow Brown made up about 90% of total sightings, with a handful of Small Heath, Common Blue and Chalk Hill Blue, and one each of Gatekeeper, Red Admiral, Small Copper, Brown Argus and Ringlet. The last was a very worn individual and it must be right at the end of the summer flight period for this species.

There was a first-time sighting, a new hoverfly, the Common Copperback (Ferdinandea cuprea), as well as first of the year sightings of Common Harvestman (Phalangium opilio) and Box Bug (Gonocerus acuteangulatus). The Box Bug was only found as I processed the harvestman images and realised that I had been so focussed on the harvestman that I had completely missed the Box Bugs that were really quite close. As a result, the image of the bugs is not great, but you can clearly see the sharply pointed shoulders of the pronotum that are characteristic of this species and indeed give it its scientific name acuteangulatus.

I also managed to get a slightly improved shot of a Red Bartsia Bee (Melitta tricincta).

On the plant front, I noted two new species, Common Knotgrass (Polygonum aviculare) that is related to dock and sorrel, and Willow-leaved Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster salicifolius). The latter is native to China but is widely grown in UK gardens and often escapes into the wild. Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) was seen for the first time this summer, no doubt simply overlooked until now.

Several trees are bearing berries. Some Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) berries seem affected by our long drought, apparently shrivelling before attaining full ripeness. The berries of two Viburnum species are also stating to ripen, Guelder-rose (V. opulus) and Wayfaring Tree (V. lantana).

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