Kentish Nature Walks #36 Downland Butterflies and Orchids 14th June 2022

A quick pop out late morning for a walk around Strawberry Banks.  It was sunny and warm with a light breeze and there were Meadow Browns and a few Marbled Whites flickering across the waving grasses. 

Marbled White

I found a few tatty Small and Common Blues around the edges and a couple of pristine Small Skippers along with Small and Large White, Common, Small Torts, Speckled Wood, Brimstone, Small Heath AND four absolutely magnificent Dark Green Fritillaries power gliding their way across the fields.  There is no Scabious up yet and so tracking hem when they landed low down was quite tricky so I was very pleased to get some incredibly close views.

Common Blue

Common Blue

Common Blue

Dark Green Fritillary

Dark Green Fritillary

Dark Green Fritillary

Small Blue

Small Skipper

Small Skipper

The upper slope was covered as usual with pin pricks of every shade of pink imaginable as countless Chalk Fragrant Orchid bloomed between the grasses.  There were odd patches of pale Common Spotted and the little still growing cerise hats of Pyramidals.

Chalk Fragrant Orchid - all above

Common Spotted Orchid

Common Spotted Orchid

Pyramidal Orchid

Pyramidal Orchid - special

I found a few Bee and Man Orchids around the edges and five Greater Butterfly Orchids towards the shady Beeches, a couple of which were in very good nick.  Small Broad-leaved Helleborines joined the Orchid list.

Bee Orchids 

Greater Butterfly Orchid

Greater Butterfly Orchid

Man Orchids 

Man Orchid

The next field over was being used by gulls as an aerial feeding zone and there were Black-headed and Med Gulls sweeping inches above the grassy slope to catch avian critters.  I think they may have been Garden Chafers.  It was just a pity that I could not get around to the other side of them where the light would have been better.  The sound of ‘caowwww’ filled the air with only an angry rattling Mistle Thrush to upset the calm.

1st summer Med Gull

1st summer

Horseshoe Vetch

Yellow-wort

Andrena florea were on their usual White Bryony fence and after advice from Tim Strudwick yesterday it would seem that I found the very chunky Lasioglossum xanthopus. Let’s hope I am correct.

Andrena florea

Andrena florea

Andrena florea

Lasioglossum xanthopus

Lasioglossum xanthopus

From here I dropped down to the local roadside reserve complete with its four splendidly freaky Lizard Orchids before a quite potter around The Larches which was very quiet although the Broad Leaved helleborines look like they will put on a great show later in the season.  I did however see some delightful Tutsan and my first flowering Stinking Irises of the year.  They are a very subtly coloured bloom.  Stinking Hellebore completed the stinky plant name set! There were no butterflies and the sheep were still in the best area where they have been seriously pruning back the Dogwood and two Ravens silently drifted south and I think that both were youngsters still growing their inner primaries.

Lizard Orchids 

Rutpela maculata

Broad-leaved Helleborine

Tutsan 

Tutsan  

Stinking Irises 

Stinking Hellebore 

Stinking Hellebore seed heads

Ravens

I came home and had lunch up the garden and who should I have sitting alongside me for the whole time but a female Blepharipa pratensis. I have Gypsy Moths and have seen the cats before in the garden so it seems logical that this colonising fly should be here too now.

Blepharipa pratensis

Blepharipa pratensis