Beltinge 50 Million Years BC - 20th August 2020

I headed out this morning to drop off birthday presents for Nicole and Jason in Blean thus giving us the opportunity to get out and do some birding.  As it happens it did not quite work out like that...

There was time for a cuppa and a perusal of the front garden buddlia in the sunshine with Small White and Red Admiral in attendance along with a few Bees and Hovers that included a fine Volucella pellucens and Lasioglossum calceatum.

Red Admiral and Queen Bombus terrestris

Volucella pellucens

well, there has not been a pigeon picture for a while

We ambled to the paddocks around the corner but there were no errant chats or flycatchers and it was already warming up fast so we tried to head towards the coast but were thwarted by the world, his wife, the mother-in-law and some distant relatives all heading for the Whitstable and Herne Bay beaches so we aborted and went towards Reculver and then back onto the cliff top at Beltinge ostensibly to check for migrants in the bushes. There was a Whitethroat and a Chiffchaff, some Linnets and House Sparrows. Small Whites were abundant and we also saw Common Blue, Small Heath, Speckled Wood and Gatekeeper. Six Spot Burnet and Silver Y were nectaring and I was pleased to see two Helophilus trivittatus on the Ragwort while a Box Leatherbug was rescued from a spider web. 

The Whitethroat

Mr Sparra with Warden Point and the oil rig towers under construction at Sheerness

Box Leatherbug

The remains of the original Herne Bay pier that was destroyed by a storm in 1978

With that we decided that scouring the beach for fossils may be more productive!

An hour later 18 Sharks teeth were literally in the bag although Nicole did find 12 of them. The tide was too high really but it was therapeutic nevertheless.  

My two!

Back to the house for a coffee and hot cross bun before leaving them to the rest of Jason’s birthday after a pleasant few hours out.