Autumn on Pevensey Levels

 Whilst the arrival of Autumn is signalled by a change in the weather and day length, I always feel that the season has changed on Pevensey Levels when the farmers have mown the meadows, cut back the trackside hedges & verges and the maize crop is being harvested.

The commonest dragonfly on the wing at the moment is the Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta). I have seen numerous mating pairs in recent weeks and as I walk along the water ditch margins, the sound of dragonfly wings clattering on the reeds as females lay their eggs, is a familiar one.

Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) (female ovipositing on reed)

Migrant Hawker (A.mixta) (mating)

Wall (Lasiommata megera)

This species is having a substantial third brood on Pevensey Levels.

Female.

Male.

Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) (male)

This is a typical late season male with much reduced pale markings.

Roesel's Bush-cricket (Metrioptera roeselii) (female)

Dark Bush-cricket (Pholidoptera griseoaptera) (male)

Helophilus hybridus (male)

This widespread species of Hoverfly is very much at home along the edges of water ditches.