Oct 14, 2026

Note 16: Late Season Garden Activity and the Summer of 2026

The smell of wet soil and cut grass have been wafting through the gardens in recent weeks. A decent spell of dry weather has enabled me to cut the lawns, some for the first time since the end of June. It’s the cidery, alcoholic vapour of the fallen apples that really signifies to me that autumn is finally here and with finely tuned senses, many animals have been enjoying this seasonal bounty. I disturbed a muntjac deer enjoying an early fruity breakfast last week, and resident blackbirds, and crows have also been tucking into the wrinkled, spumescent fruit.

It’s the butterflies that have really caught my attention. Still active in the mild weather I've spotted a couple of Peacocks, a Small Tortoiseshell, and half a dozen Commas (pictured) lured from down wind by the slowly fermenting fruit. It’s been a good year for Hummingbird hawk moths too - I saw one this week. Normally worth a letter home, their ubiquity this year may have calmed the pen but not reduced any of the excitement as half a dozen were spotted nectaring on nearby Verbena or flitting around the drooping heads of Buddleja ‘Dartmoor’.

What a great year it’s been for spotting butterflies! The hot summer may have given us management issues with our plants but the heat has encouraged record numbers of winged migrants to head across the channel and into our gardens. Perhaps the most notable visitor has been the Clouded Yellow. I find this one easy to recognise at quite a distance - it has a unique flying style - but so subtle that I find myself unable to describe it in words. Needless to say, it was wonderful to see this butterfly en-masse. Its golden yellow wings have a number 8 on the underside while the top wings are edged in a broad black band with a central black spot set within the gold. I spotted them in several gardens but the most memorable experience was seeing hundreds in 5 minutes - more than I’ve seen in a lifetime. They were nectaring on a cover crop of Lucerne.

I see from Butterfly Conservation that their numbers are up over 15-fold from previous years. Famously this insect’s population peaks in the UK every ten years or so. 1947 was a particularly notable year and 2026 will now go down in the annals for the same reason. The Painted Lady has fared well too. I remember in the early noughties hearing of large numbers heading over the channel into Cornwall. A day later they were in Gloucestershire with keen amateur naturalists standing at their back doors counting the numbers as they passed overhead.

In the last few days the weather has turned. Cooler days with temperatures in the teens, and colder nights dropping into single figures have slowed activity. A lone Silver-Y moth scuttled out of a Viburnum as I poked around its base in search of a lost dog-buried shoe, and a deceased large white butterfly (they were notably absent this year) was hanging forlornly in a spiders web in the corner of the greenhouse. It seems this year's lepidoptering has reached its end. The binoculars will be out next as flocks of chattering Redwing make their way over from Iceland to help themselves to the berries and fruits of our hedgerows. With any luck they might be followed by an influx of Waxwings, a bird I’ve yet to see.