BM BM BM BM S HOE BLUE

I know I know another crappy pun title for the older reader,its not easy you know.After last nights outing it was back to volunteer duties at 7am,not like some I could mention.
On the first walk round there were common and adonis blues warming up on a bank at the Dover end of the Hoe.

COMMON BLUE on WILD CARROT

ADONIS BLUE male &female

ADONIS BLUE

The day became warmer and the butterfly transect revealed a painted lady,several large skippers,common blues, small heaths and another adonis,also blue tailed damsels,black tailed skimmer,emperor dragonfly and 100s of common blue damsels.

LARGE SKIPPER

BLUE TAILED DAMSEL- mature male.

BLUE TAILED DAMSEL female (rufescens form) it is eating a fly of some sort.

BLACK TAILED SKIMMER

ROSE CHAFERS having a wild time on a wild carrot.

The ADONIS BLUE pair had now warmed up sufficiently to get pretty damn hot in fact.

Before leaving thought I would check on the small blues at the top of the site,there were still half a dozen flying at various stages of maturity.

SMALL BLUE worn

fairly fresh

SMALL BLUE fresh

While looking at these little blue butterflies I missed the bird of the day, as an osprey had flown over while I was in the tunnel but hey ho you win some and lose some and at the end of the day life goes on.

I should now say tomorrow is another day but I won`t cos thats really cheesy so we`ll leave it there.

WOODCOCKS AND GOATSUCKERS

Last monday evening provided ideal conditions for the annual nightjar hunt in Blean Woods,six of us met up at the entrance track and made our way to the usual spot,serenaded all the way by willow warblers blackbirds and song thrushes.

SAMPHIRE HOE NIGHTJARS FIVE A SIDE TEAM(photo by Pete Wells)

It was not long before the first of many woodcock fly bys occurred

A WOODCOCK RODING BY

AND ANOTHER

A VERY FAST WOODCOCK???

It grew dark then a bit darker and a half hearted churring was heard and a little later a reply and then a brief glimpse of our quarry as it flew across the ride.
Was that going to be it?now nearing ten o`clock we made tracks ,as we reached the cross paths the space station flew across the heavens and we followed its path agog, luckily for us we did for a full churring started up nearby really loud.Pete drifted away up the path and had a good view of it in flight.The bird now started calling from a different position and was eventually seen by all silhouetted against the last of the light in a tree
across the open heath,a near perfect result.Now well after ten glow worms guide us back as well as Tonys trusty torch,just had time for a quick pint of DOOM BAR in the Dog at Upper Harbledown,highly recommended.Now the evening was perfect.

JUNE IS BUSTING OUT ALL OVER

Despite the weather butterflies are striving to survive and although not found in vast numbers,they are hanging on.This week I have been to Lydden, Park Gate,Blean Woods Stodmarsh and Park Corner in East Sussex.

This tiny orchid which I believe is a green winged orchid was found on the bank above London Road coming out of Dover.

FRAGRANT ORCHID,there are hundreds in bloom,not all as big as this one at Lydden

The Adonis blues are managing to survive this awful June weather,how I don`t know.

MONKEY ORCHID at Park Gate

LITTLE MONKEYS

GREATER BUTTERFLY ORCHID

FRAGRANT ORCHIDS are plentiful at Park Gate too.

HEATH FRITILLARY at Blean

HEATH FRITILLARY U/S

Dropping down to Stodmarsh the usual birds were seen or heard inc at least 9 hobbies,a cuckoo,and the bittern was booming in the usual area.Along the river bank my first painted lady of the year was sharing bramble blossom with a red admiral.

PAINTED LADY

BANDED DEMOISELLE(female)

BANDED DEMOISELLE(male)

RED ADMIRAL in the car park at Stodmarsh.

SMALL PEARL BORDERED FRITILLARY no longer found in Kent, this one was at Park Corner Heath East Sussex,there were at least half a dozen on the wing which made the journey worthwhile.Another rarity here was Lee Evans twitching a butterfly!
Back home to Temple Ewell/Lydden this afternoon where the first large skipper and meadow brown were seen only singles of each though.

LARGE SKIPPER

PYRAMID ORCHID a few are now emerging

MEADOW BROWN

COMMON SPOTTED ORCHIDS these appeared to be quite fresh.

THE BEES KNEES

The weather turned out better than expected today at Samphire Hoe so managed to see a few butterflies and orchids.

COMMON SPOTTED ORCHID they are now in bloom around the reserve.

BLUE TAILED DAMSEL FLY

ADONIS BLUE

It is difficult to capture the vivid electric blue of the ADONIS.

A variant blue female ADONIS BUTTERFLY

A small patch of BEE ORCHIDS may be seen if you are patient.

IN THE GARDEN

A few moths for your entertainment and delight:-

SMALL PHOENIX

WHITE ERMINE

GREY DAGGER

CLOUDED BORDER

BRIGHT LINE BROWN EYE

COMMON MARBLED CARPET

COMMON CARPET

MICRO MOTH with very long antennae

LARGE RED DAMSELFLY on my pond.
AND FINALLY THE BEST MOTH SO FAR THIS YEAR

PRIVET HAWK MOTH

If I have mis-identified anything please let me know,cheers.

A TWEETING FROM WEETING

Friday June 1st 2012, 0100hrs arrive home from wedding in Maidstone,0430 alarm goes,drag myself out of bed and get ready to travel to Suffolk and Norfolk with the Collins` and Barry Woolhouse.0515 leave Dover arrive at Lakenheath RSPB reserve about 0745,I managed to doze some of the way.
Cuckoos were calling along the trail and at least two gave good views,and then the unmistakeable call of the Golden Oriole rang out from the dense stand of poplars,it could not be seen though the song is wonderful in itself.We stood for a while waiting for a glimpse but the song suddenly started up in the third stand of poplars a few hundred yards along the trail ,so we moved on,the song returned quite close by but the bird remained hidden from view.Suddenly from the very top of a very tall poplar a bird took to the air ,I got the bins on it and there he was a superb male Golden Oriel flying quite high between the two woods,I stayed on this bird but the others picked up a female bird as well,so the first target bird was in the bag,as they say.
Other highlights here include booming bitterns,bearded tits,reed and sedge warbler,marsh harrier, hobby andcommon terns, in fact its very similar to Stodmarsh,but there is a pair of breeding cranes here,we saw the adults and were told there are two youngsters that occasionally pop up,last but not least a lonely whooper swan has had to stay here for the summer because of a damaged wing ,hopefully it will mend,time will tell.
Next was Weeting Heath a Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserve where we hoped to see the elusive Stone Curlew.According to the sightings board the west hide had two birds and three had been seen from the east hide so our hopes were high as we set off from the visitor centre.Having sat in the west hide for about half an hour without any joy we stood up to go and lo and behold Martin had another scan round and found a stone curlew standing by the far fence line,ironically it could not be seen from a seated position,standing room only,brilliant a first for me in the UK.
The woodland walk added displaying tree pipit and singing willow warbler and a high flying display by a wood lark, and another stone curlew was found in the wood lark field.
At the east hide a pair of Stone Curlews were on view and were slightly closer so managed a few record shots.

STONE CURLEW at rest

standing up aware of approaching jackdaws

protecting his mate,laid flat on the ground.

So a successful and very enjoyable days birding concluded and it was time to do battle with the bank holiday get away,it took nearly twice as long to get home as it did to go up, a big thankyou to Martin for driving,excellent dayout.