Tuesday, 6 Oct 2026

A lovely warm and sunny early afternoon on what is billed as our last day of summer temperatures. There are still a few butterflies about. Today’s count was 4, with 2 each of Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) and Speckled Wood. The Small Copper are in very good condition and may be around for at least another week, whereas the Speckled Wood were both rather worn and faded.

Other insects seen today included two hoverflies, the Common Drone Fly and a Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus), which is one of our smaller but more attractive species.

I have previously recorded 4 species of cranefly (daddy long-legs) on the Downs, yet today I added the inappropriately named Common Crane Fly (Tipula oleracea) to the Downs list.

Some Rosa canes growing through a sycamore sapling hosted both a Common Sycamore Aphid (Drepanosiphum platanoidis) alate and a pupa of the Common Bagworm Moth (Psyche casta).

My favourite patch of horseradish is devoid of insects now. The last of the Brassica Shieldbug that have been there all summer seem to have departed, and the leaves are now being ravaged by snails. One of these is the yellow form of the White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis).

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