SEPTEMBER

EYE-SEARINGLY BRIGHT AND A BUNDLE OF ENERGY, THE SECOND BROOD OF SMALL TORTOISESHELL IS ON THE WING PLANT AUTUMN LADY’S-TRESSES Assuming 2016 is not a Ghost Orchid year (we live in hope), summer’s final orchid flourish sees delicate ivory flowers twirl demurely around a greyish-green maypole of a stem. This orchid, barely the length of a finger, thrives on short, dry turf such as chalk downland. One of Britain’s largest populations forms a botanical peace camp on Greenham Common, symbolic homeland of the struggle against nuclear warfare. Flower power?

ROESEL’S BUSH-CRICKET Until the 1980s, Roesel’s Bush-cricket was a localised creature in Britain, largely confined to extreme south-east England. In recent decades, it has expanded its range northwards and westwards. Nowadays, its high-pitched buzzing stridulations (‘call’) are a common sound on grassland walks in southern, central and eastern England.