Despite venturing out yesterday, the camera did not really
get much action although a lunchtime visit to Oare did mean that my telescope
had its first outing since Costa Rica!
At Oare I missed the Lesser Yellowlegs by two minutes and
it did not reappear during my stay but thankfully the Bonaparte’s Gull did
decide that plodding around in the mud in the haze was hardly playing fair and
dropped in to the East Flood for a wash and brush up.
There were plenty of Black-tailed Godwits and Redshanks and
23 black-bellied Dunlin. A heavily moulting Ruff wandered the margins and a
full grey and white Curlew Sandpiper was a strange sight in such a plumage and
was presumably a 1st-summer bird.
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| Bonaparte’s Gull & friends |
Beardies and Reed Warblers flicked across the pool and a
scary leucistic Herring Gull flew over looking very much like an immature
Iceland Gull save for the ghosting of dark in the primary tips.
It was too hazy and so I left and headed towards Queendown
Warren in the hope of some butterfly action but it was incredibly quiet. The floral display of Wild Marjoram, Thyme
and Basil, Scabious, Knapweeds and Bedstraws was glorious but save for a few
bees and tatty Marbled Whites it was disappointing.
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| Andrena flavipes on Yarrow |
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| Megachile on Welted thistle |
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| Harebell |
And so to this morning.
I had arranged to meet Frank C after eight for a chance of using his
lure to attract Lunar Hornet Clearwings.
This pheromone lure has only recently been developed through my old
friend Jon Clifton at ALS and so it was kind of Frank to invite me to join him. Just before I got to our meet spot between Cliffe and
Cooling and large raptor drifted across the road in front. It was heavy and
dark and my first thought was Marsh Harrier but a little twist showed a fork in
the tail – a Kite.
I could not pull over and had a car right up behind me but
once in a lay-by I scanned around and some minutes later picked it up over Rye
Street. It looked compact and still dark and I took a couple of banking shots. I will leave it as Kite on here but I know what I think. As
it turned out Frank and his son saw the same bird here yesterday but at long
range but still setting off alarm bells and then another local, unaware of any
of this had a Black Kite circling over the marshes at Rye Street a little later
in the morning.
I headed down to some truly immense old Willows at the back
of one of the orchards Frank works and after a walk around we returned to find
our first Lunar Hornet Clearwing drifting in.
Five were seen all told and this is certainly the best wasp mimic of any
other organism I have come across. They are
more slender than the hulking Hornet Clearwing and move exactly like a Vespa
species. They even buzz like one – yes...
a moth making a noise. A squeaking Death’s
Head was the only species I had previously heard before and I never actually
thought how remarkable this is until just now.
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| Lunar Hornet Clearwing |
After leaving Frank to go prune, I headed to RSPB Northward
Hill for a circuit around the wood for the first time in probably 30 years. It
was warming up nicely and my route was quite productive with all the usual
butterfly species encountered. Only Skippers
were absent and I did not find a White Admiral but a mahoosive female Purple Emperor
heading out of the wood on a b-line towards Bromhey Farm was great to see and
three Silver Washed Frits nectared on the Brambles.
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| The perfectly hidden Brimstone. Even the leaf has a mirrored spot! |
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| Comma |
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| Peacock |
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| Red Admiral |
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| Silver Washed Fritillary |
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| Small White with a deeley bopper missing |
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| Speckled Wood |
White-letter Hairstreak was at last seen well with three coming
down to a patch of flowers and there were plenty of bumbles and hoverflies to
be seen too including both Volucella zonaria and pellucens and many Eristalis
intricaria and Episyrphus balteatus.
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|
White-letter Hairstreak
|
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| Volucella zonaria |
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| Volucella pellucens |
There were a few Ruddy Darters and one clearing had at least
13 Blue-eyed Hawkers hunting in the lee of the wood. In all the time I watched
them not one landed but they came so close and the aerial display was so good
that I did not mind.
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| Ruddy Darter |
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| Honeysuckle berries |
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| The view up the Thames over Cliffe to Tilbury Port and Gravesend |
An open, sandy bit of path predictably had Bee Wolves
breeding in it and some of the other burrows had Anthophora bimaculata
occupying them.
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| Bee Wolf - Philanthus triangulum |
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| Bee Wolf - Philanthus triangulum |
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| Green Eyed Flower Bee - Anthophora bimaculata |
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| A Cheilosia hoverfly - possibly C.pagana or something better |
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| A snatched shot of a distant fly but one that I knew instantly - Phasia hemiptera with Vulcan bomber wings |
Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Kestrel and Hobby soared overhead and Blackcaps
were incredibly vocal with one songster being so astonishing in his repertoire of
Song Thrush and Nightingale notes that I was able to use him as a wayfinder to
keep me on the right path back to the car.
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| Hobby |
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| Hobby |
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| Sparrowhawk |
It was approaching lunchtime so I came home and watered the
garden before popping back again mid afternoon to Strawberry Banks near Bredhurst. I had the place to myself and despite the
increasing breeze, it was still in the mid twenties and there was plenty of
butterfly activity in the valley bottom where there was a profusion of Field
Scabious and Greater Knapweed flowering. Dwarf Thistles were now flowering from those spiky rosettes that preclude kneeling down at this site and a single Musk Thistle nodded its large flowers.
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| Dwarf Thistle |
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| Musk Thistle |
Marbled Whites and Meadow Browns danced around but I still
only saw two Gatekeepers. I was after
Chalk Hill Blues and soon found a few males shimmering through the
grasses. I often describe Adonis Blue as
electric blue but Chalk Hill takes it to a different level – lightning blue.
They really do not like sitting with their wings open but I did
manage a few nice shots with a little patience.
Several male Common Blues were also on the wing along with the Skippers,
Small Copper, Small Heath, a single Dark Green Fritillary and Six Spot Burnets. A late Burnet Companion and Dusky
Sallow were spooked from the grass.
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| Chalk Hill Blue |
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| Chalk Hill Blue |
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| Chalk Hill Blue |
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| Chalk Hill Blue |
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| Chalk Hill Blue |
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| Common Blue to compare with the CHB above |
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| Meadow Brown |
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| Marbled White |
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| Peacock |
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| Small Copper |
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| Dusky Sallow |
The Scabious flowers were being visited by many bumbles
including pascuorum, vestalis and lapidarius and following on from Richard
Hanman’s visit, plenty of Andrena hattorfiana with 33 counted as I walked
through. They look rather odd without full pink pollen baskets!
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| Andrena hattorfiana |
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| Andrena hattorfiana |
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| Andrena hattorfiana |
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| Andrena hattorfiana |
There were no Hovers out in the field but I was pleased to
find the chunky spiky arsed monster that is Nowikia ferox with two on the
Scabious.
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| Nowikia ferox |
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| Nowikia ferox |
My route took me back up along the hedgeline where one of
the Broad-leaved Helleborines was at long last flowering although it was the
other side of the fence precluding a closer look but it was a fine way to round
up my excursions for the day.
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| Broad-leaved Helleborine |
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| Broad-leaved Helleborine |
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