HOE HARBOUR AND HEIGHTS

ROCK PIPIT

SMALL BLUESMALL BLUE

LARGE RED OVIPOSTOR

At Samphire Hoe on tuesday it was absolutely calm at 7 am when I arrived and the Folkestone crab boat PeterPaul was hauling his pots just off the wall,didn t appear to have caught a lot, must be almost bereft of crabs and lobsters there by now, it should have a rest for a year or two.Later on the rain arrived so the camera was put away,there are stonechats and black redstarts feeding young,house martins are still rebuilding their cliff face homes and the peregrine falcon was seen with a young carrion crow in its talons hotly pursued by an irate adult but not for long.On wednesday I went to the Prince of Wales pier to see if the ringed plovers were breeding this year no sign  unfortunately but they may be on the huge pile of hardcore left from the demolition work.About the only bird I did see ,apart from herring gulls was a rock pipit that was singing and displaying.A Dutch brig was anchored in the harbour, this provided a pleasant change from the cruise ships.After this I made a quick visit to the western heights tohave a look for the small blue that can be found there in small numbers,luckily I found one,just one,within a few minutes and later found two more at langdon cliffs.When I got home there was another photo opportunity as the Large Red damselfly had found a mate who was oviposting in my humble little pond,how good is that.