Nature Notes – September 2024

by Andy Johnston

Virtually every spring a queen wasp builds a golf ball sized nest on the inside roof of my garden shed. Despite the door being open during the day, they insist on going into the shed through a small vent in the apex. This is because wasps, like many colonial insects, create a pheromone or scent trail, which can last a long time and probably accounts for the remnants of nine nests in the shed! A queen began building this spring, but disappeared after a week, probably killed off by the inclement weather. This week I spotted a worker wasp in the garden, and it is the first year we have not had a wasp nest in our property.

Butterflies have also been decimated by the cold spring and poor July weather. Apparently, the Jet Stream has stuck in a pattern further south than normal and brought us a succession of depressions, resulting in cooler temperatures than normal and higher than average rainfall in many places, but fortunately not here in ’Sunny Scruton’. If you have ever wondered why gulls are often seen perched squawking on High Street roofs, it is because they are resident and breed on the flat roofs of warehouses along the Darlington Road. In Sam Turner’s car park, I recently saw a pair of young ones make their maiden flight after much calling from their parents.

Recent sightings include a merlin near the sewage works and a spotted wood butterfly in the Old Rectory garden.