If last week had a definite feeling of autumn about it, this weekend saw a welcome return to summer in the garden.
Peacock butterfly on Sedum spectabile.
The sunshine and high temperatures in my garden at the weekend reminded me that summer was not ready to say goodbye just yet. An area of my garden where I have sunflowers (
Helianthus annuus), a
Buddeleia bush (which is just coming to the end of its flowering) and a nice patch of
Sedum spectabile (which is just beginning to flower), butterflies, bees and hoverflies were gathering in numbers. My attention was drawn particularly to the peacock butterflies (
Inachis io) which were visiting more regularly than at any other time this year. Red admiral (
Vanessa atalanta) butterflies were also in evidence.
Dronefly on watermint.
In an adjacent area of the garden where I planted cornfield annuals this year (see diary for
13th July), the corn marigolds (
Chrysanthemum segetum) are still flowering and now they are attracting huge numbers of drone-flies of the genus
Eristalis. The same hoverflies were also present on the watermint (
Mentha aquatica) around the margins of my pond. Most of the
Eristalis hoverflies I see in the garden through the year are of the species
Eristalis tenax (identifiable by two visible lines of hairs on the surface of the eyes), but most of these seemed to be different - possibly
Eristalis pertinax.
