September wildlife to spot in the UK

As summer ends and autumn begins, you may think there isn’t much September wildlife to spot in the UK. However, there are lots of birds around in the garden and there’s still time to look for butterflies. I view September as a middle month between summer and autumn. The weather is still a nice temperature, the conkers are starting to come, and the leaves are beginning to get crispy.

Garden birds

September can be a quiet month for garden birds as there is still a fair amount of food around. Berries and insects are abundant as the weather is still warm. However, it is still a good idea to provide food for the birds. Some birds will be migrating and some have already gone, such as swifts. There is also families of birds to spot, as they show their young the best places to find food.

Related post: 10 ways to attract garden wildlife

Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)

Goldfinches is a small-ish bird with a red face, beige tummy and a black and yellow wing pattern. Their diet consists of seeds and insects, and they have a thin beak that allows them to extract seeds in small places. They can be spotted all year round, in farmland, urban and suburban habitats.

Great Tit (Parus major)

The Great Tit is the largest bird in the tit family and looks quite similar to Blue Tits. They have a green and yellow body with a black stripe across their tummy and a black head with white cheeks. Their diet is made up of insects, nuts and seeds. They can be seen throughout the year; in woodland, farmland, and urban and suburban habitats. Sometimes they are seen with Blue Tits, in a flock together.

Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)

Blue Tits are cute little birds and only weigh 11g. They have a yellow tummy, green and blue wings, white cheeks and a little blue hat. Blue Tits eat insects, nuts, seeds and caterpillars – particularly the winter moth species. They are spotted all year round in farmland, woodland, suburban and urban habitats.

Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita)

Chiffchaffs are heard before they are seen as they have a very distinctive song. It sounds a bit like chiff-chaff-chiff-chaff which is where their name came from! Chiffchaffs are from the warbler family, are a beige/olive colour and can weigh as little as 6g. Their diets consists of insects and spiders and they are seen in woodland, heathland, farmland, urban and suburban habitats.

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Butterflies

The butterfly season is nearly over, but there are still quite a few butterflies that can be seen in September. They definitely rely on the warmer weather, so hopefully we get some sunny days.

Adonis Blue (Polyommatus bellargus)

The Adonis Blue male is a stunning butterfly with bold blue wings. and black lines along the edges of their wings. They look very similar to the Common Blue butterfly, though the latter does not have black lines. The female butterfly is brown with an orange and blue pattern at the bottom, as well as black lines. It looks similar to the Brown Argus, though with the blue.

This butterfly has two broods so is seen in mid-May until the end of June and early August until the end of September. However, it is only seen in southern England as it requires short, herb-rich turf on sunny south-facing slopes. Adonis Blues lay their eggs on the underside of Horseshoe Vetch leaves. They overwinter as caterpillars, then form a chrysalis for about 3 weeks before they emerge as butterflies.

Brown Argus (Aricia agestis)

The Brown Argus is part of the Blues (Lycaenidae) family. It is a small brown butterfly with orange markings on the edge of its wings and a slight bluish thorax and abdomen. Their habitat is primarily chalk and limestone grasslands in the south of England. However, this habitat declined due to agricultural land change so their range has increased to the north and east where they have adapted to roadside verges, railway cuttings, and rough and overgrown land.

The butterfly has two broods that start in May and finish at the end of September. Common Rock-rose is the preferred caterpillar foodplant in Chalkland for the Brown Argus. In other habitats, they use Dove’s-foot Crane’s-bill and Common Stork’-bill. The eggs hatch after 1 week and overwinter as a caterpillar. The chrysalis is formed near the ground of the caterpillar foodplant and the butterfly emerges 2 weeks later.

Chalk Hill Blue (Polyommatus coridon)

The male Chalk Hill Blue is a beautiful silvery blue butterfly. The female is similar to the Brown Argus, though the Chalk Hill Blue is a bit bigger and doesn’t have as obvious orange patterns. They are only seen in the south of England as they are confined to the calcareous grassland, which means they are quite a rare butterfly.

Chalk Hill Blue butterflies are in flight between the middle of July and towards the end of September. Their favourite flowers to feed on are the purple flowers of knapweed and scabious. Eggs are laid on Horseshoe Vetch and the caterpillars feed at night for 10 weeks until they are fully grown. The caterpillar overwinters inside the eggshell until the following spring.

Brown Hairstreak (Thecla betulae)

The Brown Hairstreak is a beautiful butterfly with orange underwings and wavy lines. The female’s upperwings are brown with an orange band whereas the male is fully brown. Both sexes have orange tails at the bottom of the wings. The male butterflies sit at the top of Ash trees, waiting for the females to arrive, and rarely fly down. The female will fly down to lay her eggs on warm days, on blackthorn bushes. Their preferred flowers to feed on include bramble, thistles and hemp-agrimony.

Brown Hairstreaks are found in patches across southern England, western Wales and western Ireland. There are some isolated colonies in the Midland counties as well. Their preferred habitat is hedges, scrubland and woodland where the Blackthorn is not cut down. It has undergone a decline due to hedgerow removal, which also removes the eggs. The butterfly is in flight from the end of July to the end of September. Eggs are laid singularly on the underside of Blackthorn twigs, and they overwinter in this form.

Other butterflies spotted in September:

• Comma
• Red Admiral
• Large White
• Small White
• Green-veined White
• Clouded Yellow
• Brimstone
• Wall
• Speckled Wood
• Small Heath
• Meadow Brown
• Painted Lady
• Peacock
• Small Tortoiseshell
• Holly Blue
• Common Blue
• Gatekeeper

Flowers

In September, there are still plenty of flowers in season to freshly pick. There are beautiful dahlias in lots of varieties and colours. This year, I have grown ‘Daisy Duke’ which is a pinky orange dahlia from Farmer Gracy. My cosmos are still in flower which I love! I grew three varieties this summer which are ‘Apricot Lemonade’, ‘Red Stripe’ and ‘Cosmos Collarette’. Interestingly, the Apricot Lemonade variety has done much better, creating a more bushy plant than the other two. Red Stripe died quite quickly, and Cosmos Collarette has been so pretty but a bit prone to black fly. Hollyhocks are just about still in bloom, as are hydrangeas, aster and sunflowers.

What September wildlife are you hoping to spot?

Caroline ♡