=>/oblog/oblog.gmi Back
=>/observations.gmi Ecological Observations
=>/ Home

# 02 August

The up's and down's continue well into August, putting additional stress on the sparse vegetation alongside harvest season that force me to avoid the worst days due to worsened hay fever. With partly cloudy conditions, moderate to strong winds and 27.4°C (11:50 AM), I only managed to avoid the increased ozone levels but not the swelling sinuses.

``` Table including full species name, location and status
+-------------------------+---------------------------------+--------+
| Species                 | Location                        | Status |
+-------------------------+---------------------------------|--------+
| Aglais io               | Yard                            | Adult  |
|-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------|
| Celastrina argiolus     | Zone II                         | Adult  |
|-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------|
| Maniola jurtina         | Zone II / III                   | Adult  |
|-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------|
| Pieris rapae            | Yard / Mixed Field / Zone I /   | Adult  |
|                         | II / III                        |        |
|-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------|
| Polyommatus icarus      | Zone I / II / III               | Adult  |
|-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------|
| Vanessa atalanta        | Yard / Zone II / III            | Adult  |
|-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------|
| Vanessa cardui          | Yard                            | Adult  |
|-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------|
|-------------------------|---------------------------------|--------|
| Coenagrion mercuriale   | Zone II                         | Adult  |
+-------------------------+---------------------------------+--------+
```

Three species are standing out, all of them in negative ways. The single A. io was an individual from last year's generation; this year's generation remains absent. There were only one to two male P. icarus in every main zone, all of them insanely hectic. C. mercuriale is seeing the worst season overall, with just two males in Zone II – this species, alongside C. splendens and P. nymphula, so far have shown the effects of the destruction of one of their breeding spots two years ago which got cleared entirely. Plenty of larvae also got destroyed in the process, judging by how rough this place was cleared (someone actually used heavy machinery and pushed muddy soil into the stream in the process). With a second harvest in Zone III in the middle of this species' peak, every C. mercuriale northeast to the southernmost hotspot got killed before they could mate.

Due to the same area's stinging nettles also having been removed during said harvest, there aren't enough healthy stinging nettles left for the absent A. agestis what won't get near the remaining ones growing out of the stream where the small C. argiolus hotspot was discovered. Overall there's so little variety in terms of nectar plants – the only plants dominating each area, besides grasses, are chicory and yarrow – that M. jurtina has already begun to end its season.

Given that it's already August where hardly any relevant plants produce another set of blossoms, the 2026 season may end in early September. There's almost nothing left at this point and it gets tiring to only encounter P. rapae at every corner.