Insect life in east Kent - and now for La Brenne

Week of 2nd July - 6th July
Warm, mostly south westerly winds, and a bit damp at times.

I had the last week off work, mostly to spend time with the family, as both kids are home for the summer. I managed an early morning walk at Reculver on Tuesday, after waking at 5am at home I strolled from Reculver towers to coldharbour and back. Rather quiet, though there were a few waders moving. Over 20 Lapwing flew s/w, as did a single Greenshank, a few Curlew flew west and there was a Green Sandpiper in coldharbour lagoon. Quite a few Yellow Wagtails around, numbers building up as usual this time of year, and an adult Med Gull flew west.

On Wednesday afternoon the sun came out, so I went back to Reculver for a few hours to look for dragonflies etc. I was really happy to find several Banded Demioselles, I thought they may have been lost from the area. At Chambers Wall there was an obliging Black-tailed Skimmer, plus an Emperor Dragonfly patrolling the Wantsum. I added Red-eyed, Blue-tailed, Common Blue and Azure Damselflies to the day list.

I paid a visit to East Blean Woods, where there were huge numbers of the wonderful Heat Fritillary floating around, and then a trip over to Thornden Woods where in the cool of the evening I found many skippers. In the evening I had a wander into Church Woods and enjoyed several sightings of roding Woodcock, and then I was treated to a fantastic display by the Nightjars, first seen at exactly 9.30pm and still flying around and churring until gone 10 o'clock.

On Thursday I set off towards Wye about 1pm, with a hot sun breaking through the clouds. On route I decided to have a quick look at Denge Wood, a place I haven't been to very often in July. Four hours later I left, never having made it to Wye, but having enjoyed a brilliant time watching the variety of butterflies in these lovely woods. I started off with Red Admiral, Meadow Brown and many Ringlets, and upon reaching an area of grassland I could see loads of Marbled Whites and all three skippers. A Comma flew past a couple of times, and having had a brief sighting of a White Admiral, on the return journey I came across another sunning itself on some leaves. The only frustration all day was trying to capture an picture of the Marbled Whites, they just wouldn't sit still very long. All in all, a great day out.

And now I have 6 days in the Brenne with Patrick Giles, hoping for many new dragonflies and butterflies, as well as some nice birdlife.