August is usually one of the most exciting months for spotting wildlife. Flowers are in bloom, insects are buzzing, and birds are busy feeding their young. But this year, things are looking a little different.
With weeks of hot, dry weather, many plants are struggling to grow, especially in parks and grassy areas. Wildflowers are wilting, the grass has turned pale, and in some places, there’s hardly a patch of mud to be found. This makes it harder for wildlife to find the food, shelter, and materials they need to survive — especially insects and birds.
So, here is your annual reminder during these dry months to help nature out in whatever way you can, whether thats supporting flowering plants in your garden or local green space, making mud pies for swallows and swifts to build nests from or hoverfly lagoons to help our breeding insects.
Dry weather is tough on flowers — and fewer flowers means less food for insects like bees, butterflies, and hoverflies. Now is a perfect time to plant late-summer flowers that can help boost your patch.If space is limited, a few pots of marigolds or cosmos on a windowsill or balcony can still make a difference. Even just leaving part of a lawn uncut can help wildflowers recover and bloom again.
Even in a dry summer, life finds a way. Now should be peak time for many of our favorite pollinators. If you take a slow walk through your local green space — a park, a school field, or even your street verge — you might spot:
- Gatekeeper butterflies darting through brambles and hedges. These bright orange little butterflies are hard to miss but due to their brown markings can be confused with meadow brown butterflies to keep your eyes peeled!
- Painted ladies and small tortoiseshells basking on warm paths. Small tortoiseshells in particular are struggling in numbers in recent years so spotting one is extra special.
- Common carder bees, which look fluffy and orange, nosing around whatever flowers they can find. They are some of the cutest bumblebees in my opinion and do an awesome job pollinator a variety of wildflowers.
- Migrant hawker dragonflies gliding silently over ponds or ditches. You can tell hawker dragon flies by their behaviour and the way they move. Very different to darter, skimmers or chasers dragon flies (you get the picture).
- Hoverflies that look like tiny wasps, hovering near flowers — they’re harmless and brilliant pollinators. My favorite the Marmalade migrates across continents to fill our countryside. They are one of the most common overflies to see at this time of year, keep an eye out on cow parsley or other umbel flowers.
If you want to explore more and help wildlife at the same time, check out this exciting nature campaign running in August:
👉 Join In Here
It’s a great way to get involved with your local green spaces and learn more about the creatures that live there