Thursday, 16 June 2011

Heath Fritillaries

Tuesday 14th June was my last night shift at work. As the weather was pleasant I went for a walk to look for butterflies in Thornden Woods. This is now looked after by KWT, and parts of the wood are looking well managed. I had a short stroll west of the car park and saw 40 or more Heath Fritillaries, plus several Red Admirals, Small Tortoiseshells, and a few Ringlets, Meadow Browns, a Holly Blue, a Small Skipper and a Large Skipper. Not bad for a walk nor more than 200 yards. Back at the car park a Crossbill flew over calling.


I then went across the road and walked east on a small loop. Surprisingly few butterflies, but I did hear a Willow Warbler and 4 Crossbills flew out of the large pines.


While the day was still warm I drove over to West Brook Valley at Reculver to look for dragonflies and found good numbers of Azure Damselflies and a superb male Emperor Dragonfly patrolling the margins of a small pond. Unfortunately the Emperor didn't land while I was watching.

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