August is a wonderful month of warm summer days and school holidays, I fondly remember mine, we would visit our Grandparents and I would enjoy playing in the garden, finding insects, picking fruit and vegetables with my Grandad and back at home playing in the fields and woods where there is so much wildlife to see now. Good bookshops stock laminated, insect identification sheets which are great to take with you for children to learn from and tick off the species they have seen.
My parents were very tolerant of my habit of bringing wildlife home, even when it escaped. I used to leave the toilet window open and the light on to attract moths. In the morning, there could be 20 moths on the walls, their patterns are amazing usually adapted to camouflage them when on the bark of a tree, but not so effective on an emulsioned wall. I would leave the light off the next night and most would go back to the wild. This was a very interesting activity for me especially when a rarity came along like a Hawkmoth.
Butterflies are much easier to spot and identify, they are often attracted to Buddleia bushes in early August and this is a good place to see Red Admirals, Peacocks and large Tortoise Shells to name a few. Peacock butterflies are my personal favourites – SJ
You will find Dragonflies on most lakes and ponds they are spectacular aerial acrobats which catch other flying insects for their food, they have great names like Emperor, Ruddy Darter, Broad bodied Chaser and Black Lined Skimmer. Dragonflies can be told apart from their similar cousins Damselflies when they land, the Dragonfly holds its wings out and the Damselfly fold their wings over their backs. I was lucky enough to have a Broad Bodied Chaser Dragonfly in my polytunnel this year, which is a rarity in the North of England. Burnby Hall Gardens at Pocklington is a great place to see both Dragonflies and butterflies, with the added attraction of a vast number of waterlilies which will be in full flower in August, you can also feed the fish and have an ice-cream. I would often catch Dragonfly larva whilst pond dipping in my school holidays, they spend up to three years growing in the pond and are ferocious predators. I also loved to watch water boatman rowing on their backs in the water. It was not until I was working that I realised how they arrived in ponds. I was hoeing next to some glass cold frames on a clear sunny day and kept hearing things hit the glass, when I looked closely it was a water boatman who had mistaken the reflection of the glass for water.
Making a pond is a wonderful way of attracting wildlife to your garden, but careful consideration should be given if you have small children. It is surprising how quickly a pond can be colonised and they can give hours of interest.
In the vegetable garden, you can still sow salad crops for the Autumn, lettuce, corn salad, spinach and Oriental vegetables. If you have any larger spaces there are many varieties of green manure crops you can grow which protect and improve your soil. Green manure is any crop which you grow to be dug in later, as it rots down it releases the nutrients which it took up whilst it was growing which would have otherwise been washed out by the rain. It also increases organic matter into your soil. If you grow a legume for example Red Clover it will also add nitrogen. If you grow pumpkins it is fun to scratch a name or message lightly into the skin of the developing fruit, as the fruit matures the scratching expands and callouses over revealing the words, what a surprise for a child to find a pumpkin with their name magically on it.
The end of August is the best time to start planting Spring bulbs, the exception being tulips which I would buy now whilst there is a wide choice but plant in November. I always put some tall varieties of Daffodils and Tulips in the kitchen garden to fill vases from March to May. The ones you grow are far better than the forced ones you buy.
Don’t forget that August is the best month to see the heather up on the North York Moors, I like the Drive from Glaisedale to Lastingham. There are wonderful views and stopping places where you can admire the purple haze of millions of Heather flowers. You can see Grouse with their young and if you stop and look you can occasionally see Adders and Lizards. The church at Lastington is worth a visit.
An activity we used to do with my Mum on a rainy day was to make a garden in a seed tray. We used succulents which we propagated easily from plants grown on the window sill. Their various shapes made the trees and shrubs, with moss making the lawn, we used gravel from the gold fish bowl for the paths and a handbag mirror for a pond. One plant I particularly remember was the Mexican hat plant, at the end of its leaves were many miniature plants which soon grew if you detached them and placed them on damp soil, garden centres will have lots of suitable plants.
Another activity we enjoyed was picking blackberries, we usually saw lots of things on our forays, Mum would teach us the names of the wild flowers we came across.
The verges on the Wolds are particularly good for wild flowers, at this time of year, meadow cranesbill, knapweed, and scabious are still flowering and attracting nectar loving insects.
Towards the end of the month Robins start singing again. Their song is now not as forceful as it is in the Spring. It seems as if they are singing to themselves as I might do absent mindedly whilst carrying out a task. They will carry on singing quietly as they keep you company in the garden throughout the rest of the year.
