The swifts have flown south and swallows will follow in September leaving martins the last to depart sometime in October. Also off as summer fades are chiffchaff, whitethroat , assorted warblers and most blackcaps although some of the latter may stay here during the colder months.

It all amounts to a case of trading places for already our winter visitors are flying in. Turnstones are here from the Arctic region but some will fly even further south after stopping off for a while around our coasts.

Whooper and bewick's swans and assorted geese will also be winging in and dependent upon how the Scandinavian winter shapes up we can look forward to redwings and fieldfares, those delightful winter thrushes together with waxwings in some years.

In severe winters our populations of some smaller species may be augmented by visitors from the Continent such as robins, blackbirds, skylarks and starlings.Then what about migrant butterflies? We were promised a large influx of painted ladies earlier this summer along the lines of a few years ago but in the event the migration did not occur. I saw just three in August so clearly very few arrived.

Standing on a Devon beach in late August I watched a red admiral (pictured) flying very fast and direct due south out to sea at head height on a return migration. Sometimes the species can be seen in Richmond and Bushy park's open spaces flying at speed and low due south without deviation while painted ladies may also return to the Continent, but unlike red admirals, they are rarely spotted as they travel at some height.