Following breakfast and a chat with guests we decided to visit Samphire Ho! First stop Joy’s Pond.
During a walk around the pond we found Pied Shieldbug, bee, Dock Bug, Green-veined White, an Amara beetle, Common Lizards and a caterpillar sunning itself on a board. There was lots of Ground Ivy, Green Alkanet and White Dead Nettle, but no forget-me-not Shieldbug.
We moved on to Samphire Ho! having to travel along the A20 at 40 mph for no apparent reason. It was quite busy but we managed to find a parking spot, payed the parking fee and walked down to the overflow car park where there were several Early Spider Orchids near the gateway to the footpath.
A walk along the path gave several more, but nowhere near the numbers from a few years ago. We also found some Bright-eyes, Bird’s-foot Trefoil and Wild Cabbage with Wall, Orange-tip and Small White butterflies along the edges. There are two goats installed on the Ho! which spent time grazing and lying around near the ponds.
On the return we called into the Lifeboat Station where we found Rock Soapwort, Rue-leaved saxifrage and Star of Bethlehem.
