diff --git a/fsspec-2021.07.0.tar.gz b/fsspec-2021.07.0.tar.gz
deleted file mode 100644
index 7e1ff11..0000000
--- a/fsspec-2021.07.0.tar.gz
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
-oid sha256:5e645866d1bfd18c65003b6e12c9fb433556c51c5a1aa6d0706783425d467dc1
-size 301517
diff --git a/fsspec-2021.08.1.tar.gz b/fsspec-2021.08.1.tar.gz
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..264e988
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fsspec-2021.08.1.tar.gz
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
+oid sha256:2edf0e4388dfffd418aebc999f04bc5551befa5e54803fa6f1f13859ee18260e
+size 303960
diff --git a/fsspec-pr710-bytesreturn.patch b/fsspec-pr710-bytesreturn.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index e232e4e..0000000
--- a/fsspec-pr710-bytesreturn.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,22 +0,0 @@
-From 576008ff849392c1c801b0722d595a2369e11797 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
-From: Davis Vann Bennett <davis.v.bennett@gmail.com>
-Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2021 19:53:48 -0400
-Subject: [PATCH] check for bytes return type and dictifiy it
-
----
- fsspec/mapping.py | 2 ++
- 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)
-
-diff --git a/fsspec/mapping.py b/fsspec/mapping.py
-index 17fe7ae7..235da8d2 100644
---- a/fsspec/mapping.py
-+++ b/fsspec/mapping.py
-@@ -88,6 +88,8 @@ def getitems(self, keys, on_error="raise"):
-         oe = on_error if on_error == "raise" else "return"
-         try:
-             out = self.fs.cat(keys2, on_error=oe)
-+            if isinstance(out, bytes):
-+                out = {keys2[0]: out}
-         except self.missing_exceptions as e:
-             raise KeyError from e
-         out = {
diff --git a/python-fsspec.changes b/python-fsspec.changes
index 672e087..63fa71a 100644
--- a/python-fsspec.changes
+++ b/python-fsspec.changes
@@ -1,3 +1,30 @@
+-------------------------------------------------------------------
+Tue Sep 21 10:00:47 UTC 2021 - Ben Greiner <code@bnavigator.de>
+
+- Update to 2021.8.1
+  * HTTP get_file/put_file APIs now support callbacks (#731)
+  * New HTTP put_file method for transferring data to the remote
+    server (chunked) (#731)
+  * Customizable HTTP client initializers (through passing
+    get_client argument) (#731, #701)
+  * Support for various checksum / fingerprint headers in HTTP
+    info() (#731)
+  * local implementation of rm_file (#736)
+  * local speed improvements (#711)
+  * sharing options in SMB (#706)
+  * streaming cat/get for ftp (#700)
+  * check for remote directory when putting (#737)
+  * storage_option update handling (#734(
+  * await HTTP call before checking status (#726)
+  * ftp connect (#722)
+  * bytes conversion of times in mapper (#721)
+  * variable overwrite in WholeFileCache cat (#719)
+  * http file size again (#718)
+  * rm and create directories in ftp (#716, #703)
+  * list of files in async put (#713)
+  * bytes to dict in cat (#710)
+- Drop fsspec-pr710-bytesreturn.patch merged upstream
+
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Mon Aug 23 17:04:01 UTC 2021 - Ben Greiner <code@bnavigator.de>
 
diff --git a/python-fsspec.spec b/python-fsspec.spec
index 381bc7c..ea3b4bf 100644
--- a/python-fsspec.spec
+++ b/python-fsspec.spec
@@ -26,17 +26,15 @@
 %bcond_with test
 %endif
 %define         skip_python2 1
-%define ghversion 2021.07.0
+%define ghversion 2021.08.1
 Name:           python-fsspec%{psuffix}
-Version:        2021.7.0
+Version:        2021.8.1
 Release:        0
 Summary:        Filesystem specification package
 License:        BSD-3-Clause
 URL:            https://github.com/intake/filesystem_spec
 # the tests are only in the GitHub archive
 Source:         %{url}/archive/%{ghversion}.tar.gz#/fsspec-%{ghversion}.tar.gz
-# PATCH-FIX-UPSTREAM fsspec-pr710-bytesreturn.patch -- gh#intake/filesystem_spec#710 and gh#zarr-developers/zarr-python#812
-Patch0:         %{url}/pull/710.patch#/fsspec-pr710-bytesreturn.patch
 BuildRequires:  %{python_module base >= 3.6}
 BuildRequires:  %{python_module importlib_metadata if %python-base < 3.8}
 BuildRequires:  %{python_module setuptools}