August Langour.

Wood whites (Leptidea sinapis) enjoy the langour of an August afternoon. Click to enlarge.



August is the month when the dawn chorus has subsided to be replaced by the harsh triplets of solo crows in the poplars beside the river.


This August the field is full of white flowers and white butterflies, but has turned out unexpectedly cool with temperatures down to 14c at night and maximums barely over 26c instead of the 36c normal for the time of year.  

Violet fritillary Clossiana dia upper and lower wings. Click to enlarge.

Thirty futile photographs were taken of a heavily dotted fritillary which spent most of its time with its wings spread wide, until quite suddenly the butterfly changed its behaviour and alighted on a flower and froze with its wings together. It did not move for several minutes - perhaps its body had reached some upper temperature limit causing it to close its outstretched wings to reduce the amount of solar radiation it was absorbing.  This butterfly was identified as the violet fritillary - identifiable by the dark purple spots on the hindwing with  an arc scattered with violet scales.

                                                                     Click to enlarge.

Another species photographed was the beautifully marked Southern small white Artogeia manii and the large skipper Ochlodes venatus. 

Most notable were the absences. After the abundance of painted ladies on migration last year, acclaimed all over Western Europe, not a single one has been seen this year. Also absent this year in August are any blue butterflies and the marbled whites seen in July are not longer visible.  One very tattered Dryad - a major feature last year- was seen in the field.