August wildlife sightings from a garden in Annan

Finally - summer seems to have arrived! We have seen more butterflies this month than any other time this year. A few more species of birds have also been seen. Great tit, coal tit, blue tit and a willow warbler have all been seen with the regulars, along with a sparrowhawk who swooped through the garden and landed in next door's tree. We didn't see it catch anything but a few days later we did find a lot of feathers in one spot in the garden! Swallows and swifts have still been flying about, although we have not seen a swift since the 20th August. Some of the starlings seem to be gathering together in larger flocks - ready for murmurations perhaps?
A good number of butterflies have finally put in an appearance this year. The few sunny days we have seen have brought out some beautiful specimens - even 2 Painted ladies!

With the butterflies there were also a good number of bees and hoverflies.

Here is the monthly max for wildlife in the garden:
Blackbird - 3 young
Blue tit - 1
Carrion crow - 2
Chaffinch - 1 female
Coal tit - 1
Collared dove - 1
Great tit - 2
House sparrow - 20 male, 20 female
Jackdaw - 1
Robin - 1
Rook - 2
Sparrowhawk - 1
Starling - 35
Swallow - 25
Swift - 8
Willow warbler - 1
Wood pigeon - 1
Green- veined white butterfly - 1
Painted lady - 2
Peacock butterfly - 10
Red Admiral butterfly - 4
Small Tortoiseshell butterfly - 7
Small white butterfly - 4
other white butterflies - 5

Moths are still in quite low numbers. On the occasions we have trapped this month there has only been totals of 131, 91 and 98 moths, although some of them have been lovely specimens.