Kentish Nature Walks - #72 - The Great Stour & Oare 1st July 2023

A www.blueeyedbirder.com adventure:

The weather did not look too good as I drove down to Fordwich for my walk with Mark and Caroline and it was still grey when I arrived and had been trying to spit but it was warm and humid as we set off with fingers crossed.

The path alongside the Great Stour was not as overgrown as last year and there was still a good bank of Nettles, Brambles and Willowherb and out of the breeze there was plenty to find and it ended up becoming a very successful few hours.

There were countless Banded Demoiselles flitting between water and vegetation and some wonderful dancing action low over the water when the sun peaked through for a few minutes.  They are quite simply one of our most dazzling insects.

Banded Demoiselle

Banded Demoiselle

Scarce Chasers and Black-tailed Skimmers patrolled the path margins but we only saw one Emperor and no Green Eyed Hawkers at all.  Variable, Red-eyed, Common Blue, Azure and Blue-tailed represented the blue Damsels while two fresh Willow Emeralds were a pleasant surprise.  I keep thinking things are early but forget that I missed out on most of the spring in the UK!

Willow Emerald

Willow Emerald

Scarce Chaser

Scarce Chaser

Black-tailed Skimmer

Beaver signs along this stretch

Bumblebees were represented by Bombus pascorum, terrestris, lapidarius and vestalis and there were a few small ones that I could not identify.  Oedemera nobilis were on most flowers along with a good number of Hoverfly species with Volucella pellucens, Eristalis tenax, pertinax and intricaria, Syrphus ribesii, Eupeodes corollae, Episyrphus balteatus, Platycheirus albimanus, Helophilus hybridus and pendulus, Syritta pipiens and even a brand new one for me with the confusing Chalcosyrphus nemorum that looked like a cross of several species! Always something to learn.  Rutpela maculata were on the Hogweed with many of the other nectar lovers.

Bombus vestalis

Chalcosyrphus nemorum

Helophilus pendulus

Eristalis intricaria

Eristalis intricaria

Eristalis tenax

Rutpela maculata

There were some very large Sarcs and a fabulous Conopid that I identified as Physocephala rufipes. There were emerging Harlequin Ladybirds everywhere but there were plenty of 7-Spots too along with 14-Spot and two smart Cream-spotted. 

Physocephala rufipes

Physocephala rufipes

Physocephala rufipes

Harlequin Ladybird on a Kentish Snail

Orange Ladybird

Seven Spot Ladybird

Young Coneheads were in the grass while Roesel’s and Dark Bush Crickets were in the Brambles where Wolf Spider ran with gleaming egg sacs and Nursery Web Spiders stood sentinel over their tents filled with tiny spiderlings.

Roesel’s Cricket

Dark Bush Cricket

Dark Bush Cricket

 Nursery Web Spider

It was an encouraging wealth of invert life.  Newly emerged Commas gleamed orange despite the lack of sun and there were many Red Admirals around although most were very tatty but there were very few other Butterflies with just a few Small Whites, Holly Blue and Meadow Browns.  A surprise White Admiral appeared on the Bramble for just a few short moments before heading off once again.

 White Admiral - it looks half-cut

Comma

Comma

The Nettles contained the rolled leaves of Mother-of-Pearl moth larva and we saw a couple of adults too and there were plenty of some sort of what I think were Sawfly larvae grazing on the Great Willowherb.

Celypha lacunana 

Mother-of-Pearl

Psyche casta

Sawfly larvae

Both White-lipped and Dark-lipped Hedge Snails along with Kentish Snails were seen and they tend to stay still longer for pictures!

White-lipped Hedge Snail

Dark-lipped Hedge Snail

Figwort

Meadowsweet

Stoneloach

Chub

Lipara lucens  - Cigar Gall

There were birds too with several brief dashing Kingfisher encounters, yaffling Green Woodpeckers, Warblers singing for their second broods and a foraging Garden Warbler that was collecting food all the way down at the waters edge.  A late male Cuckoo sang and had a fly round always hopeful of a lingering female and Hobbies made a couple of passes but there were no high flying Dragons for them to hunt.

With rumbling stomachs we retraced our steps and wiggled through towards Oare Marshes but I still had a stop on the way and turned off to the church at Ospringe.  I hoped that it would be warm enough for the Wall Lizards to be out sunning and we were lucky to see one female and two striking males on the usual wall.

Wall Lizards

White Bryony was taking over their favoured corner but it did have Bryony Bees all over it!  A young Robin came to say hello before we moved on to Oare for the rest of the day.

Bryony Bee

Bryony Bee

There were several Blue Eyed Hawkers around the tree tops as I drove down Western Link and amazingly only a few cars down at the end when we got there.  The tide was right out but it was still a nice spot to have lunch before the walk in the increasing breeze along the river wall to Dan’s Dock.

Sea Lavender

Hogs Fennel

Flouncing Marbled Whites joined Small and Green Veined Whites along the top and there were a few Meadow Browns and a couple of Small Tortoiseshells as well and the first Red Soldier Beetles were on the Wild Carrot.  Ruddy Darters patrolled the path.

Ruddy Darter

Small White

Meadow Pipits displayed over the saltmarsh and Reed Warblers and Reed Buntings sang on the inland side while Bearded Tits moved back and forth with food.  There were broods of Mute Swan and Gadwall on the main dyke and three Green Eyed Hawkers were patrolling the closest one along with a couple of Four Spot Chasers.

Alosterna tabacicolor on Wild Carrot

Oystercatchers, Lapwing and Curlew were out on the river and singles of Little and Common Terns were seen along with a few adult Med Gulls in all their summer finery.

Down at the Dock I could hear Skylarks and Corn Buntings singing I the fields beyond and Stock Doves were around the pillbox.  The target species here were the still colonising Dainty Damselflies and it only took me a couple of minutes to find three males and a female but the wind was keeping them very low and flighty so I quickly left their favoured spot.  This was a new species for me.

Dainty Damselfly - male

Dainty Damselfly - female

The dock itself held egg laying Blue-tailed and Small Red Eyed Damselflies along with a medium sized Grass Snake and a Kermit green Marsh Frog.

Grass Snake

Marsh Frog

Pleased with our success despite the wind we made our way back to finish up at the East Flood where there were a few Black-tailed Godwits and Redshank despite the low tide.  A single Green Sandpiper lurked on the close edge and there were the usual ducks heading quickly into eclipse.

Somehow it was gone 5pm and so we called it a day after a most successful venture into the Kentish countryside.