Local Wildlife Sightings September 2023

 Apologies once again for the sporadic nature of my updates. This is due to a combination of a particularly busy period and the fact that I use my own edited images, and image editing, labelling and indexing sometimes lags weeks behind the current date. Things should become somewhat easier (and the blogs shorter) as we leave the invertebrate-filled summer behind.

Having abandoned July and August, summer finally returned with a bang from the beginning of September, as we entered a ten day heatwave. The highest temperature of the year in the UK came on the 7th, a particularly unusual statistic. My walks in the local area became more sporadic and less interesting, as most insect life declined. On The Heath, few butterflies remained by the end of the first week, but some (mainly female) Adonis Blues were still present on the Old Rifle Range. A Painted Lady was seen near Royston Hospital on the 5th and one or two pristine Comma butterflies suggested a small second generation. The expected passage of song birds never really took off during the heatwave - presumably the fine, dry weather encouraged them to fly straight through. My 2023 'bogey bird' became the Whinchat, as visits to sites (some local) where they had been reported failed to produce any, although I did find a couple of Stonechats on my travels. House Martins (up to 20) were seen feeding over the local fields on a few occasions and three were seen at dusk, feeding over Royston town centre on the 7th.

During late August and early September I made three visits to Clothall Common, near Baldock. A colony of Chalkhill Blue butterflies has been established for a few years in an area close to the A505 bypass, and good numbers of both males and females were seen on each visit. Small Blue butterflies and, from 2022, Adonis Blue butterflies have also been seen there but I could not get good evidence for either species being present on my visits. I did take some photos of the under-wings of (presumably) female Chalkhill Blues there and will, when time permits, compare them with those of female Adonis Blues, as part of a project to look for differences between the very similar females of the two species.

Migrant Hawker Dragonfly, Reed End, 13 September

The summery weather held on during the second week of September, with plenty of sunshine and temperatures in the low to mid-20s. There was a noticeable passage of Meadow Pipits, with many birds either being seen in flight or heard in the fields surrounding Royston. On a walk in the Church Hill area on the 9th I came across an astonishing number of female Wasp Spiders, around 20 in all, including eleven having formed their webs across a short (around 100M) section of a rough path. I also recorded at least six Adonis Blues here, including two males - easily the highest total of the year in this location! Another walk around the villages on the 13th produced another Marsh Harrier sighting, possibly of the same bird, in fields to the south of the Hospital. Summer visitors appeared to have largely departed, with just Chiffchaffs and one or two Blackcaps hanging on. I came back to photograph the Wasp spiders on Church Hill on the 14th (a couple of images below) but could only find four. However, on my way there I found a migrating Wheatear on the golf course, my first local sighting of the year!

Female Wasp Spider, Church Hill, 14 September

Female Wasp Spider about to catch and eat a Fly, Church Hill, 14 September

Ivy bees appeared in the middle of the month and, for a while, were present in their thousands on The Heath and wherever Ivy bushes were in flower. However, the weather changed dramatically from the 17th, with thunderstorms followed by strong winds and heavy rain. I didn't get out much during the following week, but I did notice a strong passage of hirundines (Swallows and House Martins), with the swallows flying purposefully south, whilst the House Martins took their time, feeding over the fields to the south of Royston. A short visit to Church Hill on the 20th failed to produce any Wasp spiders. Small numbers of Large White, Small White, Meadow Brown, Small Heath and Red Admiral butterflies were seen and a single male Adonis Blue was fluttering about at the bottom of the hill. I suspect that I will have little more to say about butterflies this year.

Ivy Bee, Royston, 15 September

Due to the poor weather and a holiday from the 23rd (see 'UK sightings'), the only other September sightings of note were on the 22nd, when a party of six Ravens (a record count for me) flew over Royston Hospital, heading north, and another fresh Comma butterfly was seen on the same day.

Comma Butterfly, Royston, 22 September