Total monthly rainfall: 44.5 millimetres. Maximum daily rainfall: 10.5 millimetres (9^th August). There were 14 days with measurable rainfall, and only 6 days with 100% cloud-cover for at least part of the day. Maximum temperature on the warmest days was 31°C on August 25^th, 26^th, and 27^th. On the coldest days it was 17°C on the 10^th and 14^th of August. Temperatures were below 20°C between the 10^th and 20^th, except on the 17^th and 18^th, when the temperature reached 20 degrees. This gave an autumnal edge to the month, accentuated by the strong winds on the 10^th. We calculate these to be force 6, gusting force 8, and resulted in bringing down a large goat willow by the lake, and a wild hop and trellis by the front corner of the house – together with many leaves and small branches in the wood.

We have one new wildflower and three fruiting shrubs to record this month. The wildflower was a redshank on the 2^nd, bringing our annual wildflower total to 62 species. The shrubs were ripe elderflower (2^nd), hawthorn berries (24^th), and blackthorn sloes (30^th).

• Buff-tipped moth caterpillars Buff-tipped moth caterpillars
• Green woodpecker Green woodpecker
• Southern hawker ovipositing (egg-laying) on 30th August Southern hawker ovipositing (egg-laying) on 30th August
• Wasp spider Wasp spider
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With the weather so autumnal we saw no new species of butterfly this month, and only two moth species – a mother of pearl moth among lakeside foliage on the 7^th, and 20 buff-tip moth caterpillars devouring lakeside willow leaves on the 30^th. Our moth species total now stands at 37.

Two new species of dragonfly appeared this month to bring our total for the year to 20. On August 6^th, 21 migrant hawkers appeared around our site to give us a very late first-sighting, while on the 21^st, we spotted two willow emerald damselflies on goat willow at the back woodland pond.

There remains a diverse mixture of first-sightings, beginning, in order of appearance, with a wasp spider on August 2^nd - the first of six to be discovered in gaps among our meadow flowers and grasses. Wasp spiders love undisturbed and unimproved pastures, but disappeared from our site on 7^th September 2014, presumably because we allowed some cattle to graze our fields while protecting the wasp spiders with sheep hurdles - destroying their surrounding habitat in the process. On August 9^th at 9pm we walked the dogs as darkness approached. During the walk we went round part of the wood, where we saw three glow-worms. We were thrilled to see that they are still on our property, as we avoid night-time walks these days for safety reasons. On the morning of August 21^st we found a common shrew beneath a reptile shelter, while during the afternoon, Gill Brook spotted a water ladybird among marginal rushes on our lake.

Finally, two other sightings of interest occurred involving repeat sightings. On August 7^th, from a window we photographed a green woodpecker foraging for ants on our back lawn, and on August 18^th, we watched as our swallows fledged their second brood.