Samphire Ho!

 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.

April 2025

 A nice few days with some good sightings. I saw my first Swallow during the week and then a few more over the weekend. Jacob found a Wryneck, which I managed to see the back end of as it flew over a bush. This was followed by a Blaxk-winged Stilt on the RSPB reserve, hayfield one and then a hoopoe on the Sunday, which I managed to see on the way to a short ‘do’ for Joey, Sean’s son. 

Iberian Chiffchaff

 A nice sunny day on Dungeness with the feel of spring in the air. The morning had started with an influx of Black Redstarts dotted around the area which we spent time looking at.

A radio call alerted us to the presence of an Iberian Chiffchaff in DB’s garden. We drove round and parked up, walked round the back of the house and there was a small group who showed us where to look. The bird was very active and spent most of it’s time flitting in and out off the trees and especially the euphorbia gleaning insects and giving some really good views.

Large Tortoiseshell and other ButterfIies

 With a few warmer days and some sunshine there were a few butterflies on the wing. In the garden there have been Comma, Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock while news came of Large Tortoiseshells emerging in Burchet Wood, near Hamstreet. An afternoon trip up from Dungeness had us parking on the roadside and walking along the ride into the wood. A king man pointed us in the right direction and we were soon watching a lovely Large Tortoishell sunning on a tree trunk. It flew around and settled a few times before flying off through the trees. There were more sightings further down the ride and we met up with Jonathan and friends from Sandwich. 

A couple of buzzards flew over and there was a shallow flooded area that was alive with frogs before we walked back to the car. Driving back we took a back road past an old orchard and managed views of two Little Owls.

March 14th

 Having put the actinic out for the first time on 16th Feb which brought 14 moths of 3 species, including 9 common Quaker and 4 small Quaker, I put it out a couple of times more but gave up when there was nothing in the trap. I started again on 11th March and have had it out most nights since. Last night I had the highest number of moths with 10 moths, of 4 species, the highest number of species so far was on the 12th with 6 moths of 6 species.

A decent day yesterday brought my first wheatears with two feeding on the turn area near the new lighthouse. There were a few Gannets and a Red-breasted Merganser flew up channel. A large flock of about 100 Brent, followed by a small group of 7 also went purposefully north. The sun brought out a small group of firebugs and a Red Admiral.

More Emeralds

Checking out the trap at Kiln Field found 

 Following the discovery of Scarce Emerald yesterday, we returned the damsels to their pools, finding a new male in one of the pools. Jacques and Beth arrived and we spent some time checking the details of the damsels. 

Scarce Emerald Damselfly

 As we walked in we put a Lunar Hornet lure out so after we’d released the damsels we went and checked the lure. There were 8 males in and around the pot. 

Lunar Hornet Clearwing

As we walked through the trapping area, we set the pots up in different places. There was a total of 24 attracted to the lures from 5 different spots. We also tried the Red-tipped and Dusky lures but no takers.

We walked out to the wigwam pools, although they were drying out quite a lot. We were looking for the water **** but all we managed to find was Water Forget-me -not, Marsh Bedstraw and one, possibly two more Scarce Emerald males.

On the walk back we tried the 6 Belted lure but 5ere were probably not enough plants. We did find a Heath Shieldbug on the bedstraw. 

The pleasure of orchids

 Kent is one of the best counties for orchids and each year I try to see as many as I can. The Early PurPle orchids at Dungeness were attacked by badgers but a good number (60+) survived, helped by cages. A short visit to the graveyard of High Halden Church had some really nice examples of Early purple orchids as well as many early spring flowers. On the marsh is a field that used to be covered in Green-winged orchids but the numbers have declined over the years until they were down to 2/3 with none visible over the last two years so it was a nice surprise to count 17 this year. A very pleasant afternoon visit to Yocklett’s Bank found near.y over Early Purple, Lady, Fly, including the green one, White Helleborine and Butterfly nearly out.

 

We also found a new shield bug, ****, which was a nice surprise.