A few things I've noticed of late:

• Lots of ladybirds about, especially 7-spot.
• Garden full of Gatekeeper butterflies all of a sudden, often in pairs. This is their time of year apparently.
• Slugs and snails living it up in the recent boughts of wetness (and eaten all our courgette plants) though it's still fundamentally dry out there and some plants are struggling.
• I have a large wasp's nest in the hedge – about the size of a football. I think they're Median wasps, so not the usual sort: bigger but much less agressive and bothersome. I blogged about them once before when I saw a single wasp before I discovered the nest.
• I saw a Red kite circling above the garden lower than I've seen it before – probably just 50 feet up or so. Their successful comeback seems to continue apace.
• Smooth newts are easily terrified and they just freeze. They also looks just like little lizards. I found one crawling across my decking the other night – frozen stiff at my sudden appearance. The picture above is a pair I found on a previous occasion.
• Wasps of all sorts are particularly evident now. Presumably their numbers have swelled as they built up the size of their colonies over recent months. August is traditionally a waspy time of year and before long they'll be drunk on rotten apples.