The Bourne circuit

Very pleased to see a Painted Lady on the first bramble patch from the Victoria Road entrance. Its the first record for me in the parish that I know of. I think I probably also saw the same individual on the track below the reservoir at the end of the walk - quite a big coincidence otherwise! Such a wonderful subtle-yet-gorgeous underside pattern.

Chiff-chaff on the ash on the other side of the road. Chiff-chaffing and then a series of little brrtt sounds, repeating all several times. Heard a similar track on Xeno-canto.

Best bramble patch is the one by  the Victoria Road bridge.

Swallows and Martins over the willow bridge bend.

Dene Park on a warm mormning

Five Speckled Wood butterflies, four males perching, one passng by which was immediately attacked, so probably also a male, all along the Knight's Park track today.

One Red Admiral, north of the dog bin triangle, on the bracken, and also flying very powerfully, particularly in comparison with the Speckled Woods earlier on.

Denge Wood

5 male Common Blues, 2 Duke of Burgundies, and 1 Dingy Skipper.

Very nice to see the Dingy Skipper, Erynnis tages, a species I only occasionally see! The caterpillar food plant is the Common Birds-Foot Trefoil, Lotus corniculatus, present in reasonable numbers on this site. Horseshoe Vetch and Greater Birds-Foot Trefoil are alternatives.

This is a better photo of the butterfly's stubby head, with its prominent eyes and protruding palps.

This photo shows the long hairs around the abdomen which I think must originate at least partly on the top of the hind wings - function probably complex!

I have seen this butterfly before in May, but the flight period of the adult extends rather later in the year than I expected, continuing in June, so I still need to keep my eyes open. I have seen this species before at this site, in 2015 and it was also found for me at Fackenden Down in 2016 - good photo from the last site, a fresher specimen than this one!

The national distribution map seems to indicate that larger numbers seem to found in the Eastern part of the North Downs, but this may be due to site size rather than site suitability. The butterfly likes basking on bare ground and the broken cover may also encourage the food plant, the Birds-Foot Trefoil. However the butterfly also likes taller plants for shelter and perching. Some of the colonies are quite small and discrete, and exploitation of new areas is likely to be slow. Large sites or meta-populations of small sites are the most likely to persist.

Females tend to lay eggs on the tops of leaves on the longest shoots of large food-plants in sheltered warm situations, perhaps on south-facing slopes, or in wind-protected hollows. The larvae spin leaves together to form a succession of little tents in which they feed throughout the summer and then into the winter (a hibernaculum), and they pupate in the spring in one last nest as well.

The butterfly is declining nationally, by about 40%. Sites tend to get overgrown and brownfield sites may get developed, so continued renewal of sites is sensible. 

Blues at the Lawrence Betts Reservoir

Three male Common Blues, Polyommatus icarus, seen this evening, downslope, and partly out of the wind, on the reservoir's walls.

Access Trail and a couple of old stagers

Along the Access Trail to check for Butterflies - and the "old stagers" of two Peacocks and One Comma popped up along the herbicide strip alongside the Access Trail to reassure me that there are usually at least some butterflies there, these species having bravely over-wintered, and lasted until now!

The Comma was resting on the leaves of the Elms beyond the dip, looking quite tatty:

The second of the two Peacocks posed on one of the fence posts. The broad body seems to sit in a little "valley" of the cupped inner wing. The thorax hairs have been worn entirely off.

There were also a coupled of male Banded Demoiselle's seen.

Coney Banks and Small Blues

The target species today was the Small Blue - surely I would finally find this butterfly which has eluded me for so long?

Yes! In exactly the expected places along the base of the slope there were at least seven individuals spotted, probably most, if not all, males, as this is where they are supposed to gather, for example basking on grass stems, waiting for the innocent (?) females to arrive, mate and then depart to explore clumps of kidney vetch, their only known food plant in the UK.

This is one of the males, that posed, first with its wings closed, then gradually opened.

Broad-leaved Everlasting Pea Lathyrus latifolius was present on much of the slope, but I missed the unusual Yellow Vetchling, Lathyrus aphaca.

White Hill Reserve and Fackenden Down

Too cold and breezy for butterflies today, but some nice flowers!

It has been a particularly good year for Cowslips at White Hill - because of the dry conditions or the earlier mild winter perhaps?

Grizzled Skipper at White Hill

While I was photographing a Peacock Butterfly, Aglais io, in the middle of his territory, it flew off and was almost immediately replaced by a rather nice Grizzled Skipper, Pyrgus malvae, which somewhat amazingly I recognised!

Here are a few photos of it nectaring on Wild Strawberry, Fragaria vesca, a little cropped, but a nice fresh specimen.

This species is decreasing, and this is the first individual I have seen for certain. Its abdomen looks like that of a male.

The males bask, chasing rivals in fierce dogfights, and are more commonly seen than the females. However, the females can sometimes also be spotted fluttering about, investigating possible egg-laying sites.

The small bun-shaped eggs are laid on Rosaceous plants such as Wild Strawberry, Agrimony or Creeping Cinquefoil among others. They take 10 days to hatch and the first stages feed around the edges of a silken shelter, then fold leaf edges over to make tents of increasing size. Warm wet weather in July tends to correlate with better emergence the following year.  The pretty chrysalis is found at ground level in silk webbings, most overwintering over 9 months, in warm springs a very few forming a second generation in August.

Preferred habitat is a mosaic of short vegetation, bare ground and taller plants, on land such as chalk, rough ground, railway cuttings and unshaded woodland glades and rides. Now rare north of the Cotswolds and Chilterns. 

Dingy Downs

A nice Dingy Skipper, Erynnis tages, on Fackenden Down - I wish I'd found my own, but very gratefully received anyway! This is a butterfly in trouble nationally, and I've only seen a very few, and only singles at any one time. It might be worth repeated visits to try to hit the peak.

Its not at all bad patterning when you get up close. I like the abdominal edging and the antennal stripes. This one might be a male (left hand forewing):

Its quite a hairy butterfly on the underside - I wonder if that helps it to collect warmth from the ground?

And this is a slightly better view of the underside of the wing:

This species lives in fairly small colonies, say of 50 adults at peak flight time, and is relatively sedentary, a few individuals flying perhaps a few km from the original colony. Meta-populations may not remain very effectively linked as habitats become increasingly fragmented and distant. The species is a priority species on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.

Common Bird’s-foot-trefoil Lotus corniculatus is the usual foodplant in all habitats. Horseshoe Vetch Hippocrepis comosa is also used on calcareous soils, and Greater Bird’s-foot-trefoil L. pedunculatus
is used on heavier soils.

Eggs are laid singly on young leaves of the foodplants and females choose the longest shoots of large plants growing in sheltered situations. The larvae hide in tents formed by spinning the leaves of the foodplant together and feed through the summer months. When fully grown, each larva spins more leaves together to form a hibernaculum in which to spend the winter. Pupation occurs the following spring in the hibernaculum, without further feeding.


It was great to see the cowslips, Primula veris, out

The dark blue of the Germander Speedwell, Veronica chamaedrys

Leybourne Lakes

Lots of Cabbage Whites, hopefully mostly Large Cabbage Whites, Pieris brassicae, on the long walk around the lakes. This is I think the height of their numbers. We unfortunately killed a couple who wandered in on to the moist concrete as it was laid in the extension two days ago.

These ubiquitous insects are incredibly successful because they are so well adapted. They don't lay too many eggs on a particular plant or a leaf. Larval feeding or leaf damage, or the number of eggs already laid, as set out in research from Miriam Rothschild among others no doubt, are all cues not to lay any more eggs.


The work described in this paper forms part of an investigation into the conditions which influence the breeding of Pieris brassicae (L.) in captivity. Observations have been made on the behaviour of the females at the time of oviposition, on factors which influence oviposition, on the appearance and weight of the eggs and on their fertility and hatching.

Females which are ready to lay seek out green surfaces and, as they respond eagerly to plants from which they are separated by glass, it seems that plant odour plays little part in the attraction. Once they have alighted, however, the insects drum on the surface with their fore legs to test its suitability. Normally they lay only on plants which contain the mustard-oil glucosides, but they have been observed to oviposit on broad bean (Vicia faba), on which the larvae do not survive. Sinegrin applied to green paper stimulates the female to lay. Provided she is standing on an acceptable surface she will oviposit on any other surface, for example, filter paper or glass. The eggs are normally deposited on the under surface of the leaves. This is largely due to a preference for the physical underside but the insects also seem to prefer the morphological under surface of the leaf to the upper surface. When laying an egg, the female locates one previously laid with the tip of her abdomen and so builds up the regularly arranged batches.

The females lived and oviposited as well in small cages as in large cages. They laid more eggs per day, and more eggs in a batch, at 30°C. than at 20°C. Both numbers increased until the female was about six to seven days old and then declined. Oviposition occurs at low light intensities. Fertilised females laid very many more eggs than virgin females. Oviposition occurred two to three days after copulation, and most females oviposited six or seven times in eight days. The number of eggs laid by starving insects is low: it is higher for insects given water or one per cent, honey solution and very much higher for insects given ten per cent, honey solution. Sucrose solutions are as satisfactory as honey solution.

When first laid, the eggs of P. brassicae are yellow in colour and become more orange as they develop. Some batches of newly laid eggs are of a distinctly darker yellow than others but, as it is believed that the eggs are fertilised only just before oviposition, it seems that this colour difference cannot be due to the eggs being in somewhat different stages of development. The number of ribs on the shells seems to vary in different cultures.

Batches of eggs which are laid within an hour of each other may begin to hatch several hours apart, and the time taken for all the eggs in one batch to hatch was found to range from two hours to about seven. A fertilised female lays scarcely any infertile eggs. The fertility after one mating falls below 100 per cent, after about 14 days, but normally the female mates again before this time. Temperature naturally affects the time taken by the eggs to hatch. The shortest time was about 3¾ days at 28°C.; the longest observed was 17 days at 12·5°C.

The eggs cannot be stored for more than ten days at 3·5°C. and 50 per cent, relative humidity. Eggs will develop and hatch at very low humidities. If the eggs are detached from the surface on which they are laid by the use of acetone their capacity to develop and hatch in air dried over phosphorus pentoxide is substantially reduced.


As part of development of an IPM programme for cabbage crops in the Netherlands the possibilities for biological control of lepidopteran pests by means of inundative releases of Trichogramma species was examined. The studies involved pre-introductory research to select effective Trichogramma species/strains. This paper dealt with laboratory research on the host-selection process. They examined whether strains of Trichogramma evanescens Westwood prefer one of the three most harmful lepidopteran pest species in cabbage, Mamestra brassicae, Pieris brassicae and Pieris rapae when these are offered simultaneously to the parasitoids. The most important aspect of this paper was the development of a fast and reliable method to determine host preference. It appeared from the evaluation of the different methods used in this study that direct observation of the parasitization behaviour of the wasp is necessary to determine preference in a reliable way. Differences were found in host preferences between strains of one Trichogramma species. The differential acceptance and preference of the three host species is now used to select Trichogramma strains as potential biological control agents.

Great Crested Grebes with Coots on the water, and lots of young Greylag Geese, Anser anser, by the feeding area.

Lakenheath Fen - The Reserve

Plenty of Ruddy Darters along the track towards Fen View. I do not THINK I saw any Common Darters, which was quite a surprise to me!

Here is an immature male rather, perhaps, than a female, I think, on balance. However, this is just based on my impression of the tail shape:

It is definitely a Ruddy Darter, as it has the frons side line, the blackish T-mark back from the collar, and entirely black legs, and more solid black markings along the middle of S8-9. I think my memory was was that it was also quite small, with a fairly short abdomen. 

Rushing around Dene Park with Monty

A lovely old Peacock butterfly on the path through Knight's Wood, obviously been through the wars, having been repeatedly pecked!

Duke of Burgundy and Dingy Skipper at Denge Wood

This was a brilliant British Butterfly Conservation Society Kent Branch trip, and it was particularly nice to see Peter and Margaret again.

I stopped at the pull-in in the Northern half of the woods first, and found a nice Nomad Bee, Nomada flava or panzeri, generally regarded as two common but indistinguishable species.

There was also a lovely Common Carder Bumblebee, Bombus pascuorum close by, nectaring on the Yellow Archangel.

This is a better photo of the Yellow Archangel, Lamium galeobdolon, just further along.

Sometimes early Hazel leaves show these purple markings, I think.

There was also a neat spider,

The group did see some Dingy Skippers, including a fresh mating pair, but I only caught a glimpse of this apparently very worn individual:

There were quite a few Green Tiger Beetles, Cicindela campestris, on the paths. Both of these appear to be males, as you can see at least the ivory-coloured left-hand mandibles quite clearly. The second male has fewer cream spots on the elytra.

There was a nice Rove Beetle on a bonfire site on Bonsai Bank, seemed to be way out of the damp habitat associated with this genus, particularly Paederus riparius, but it might still be Paederus littoralis I suppose, or maybe another species.

Throughout the day we saw Brimstone Butterflies, Gonopteryx rhamni, and I caught this battered male(?) trying to snack on a primrose flower.

Comma chrysalis, Lawyers Wig and Willowherb Downy mildew at Dene Park

I really find it difficult to get satisfactory photos with the mobile - I don't know whether it is focussing or shake that is the main issue.

The Comma chrysalis was absolutely fantastic - and the photos do  not do it any justice at all. I would never have seen it if it wasn't on some sallow whips that had been largely stripped by what I think might be the Willow Sawfly - see below. The chrysalis was just under an inch long I would have said, and here there is a front view and then a side view. The photo just can't capture the wonder of the silvery patches.

I found two or three of the Sawfly larvae as well, maybe the final instar. They may be the Lesser Sawfly, Nematus pavidus, which seems to be the commonest on Goat Willow.

The Tawny Owl was heard for the third evening in a row, and it was heard twice tonight. Nice to think of this male setting up its winter territory for next spring, presumably having successfully moulted over the last couple of months. "Tawny Owls remain within their nesting territory all the year round and pair-bonds last for life. They are generally monogamous but some males are known to be polygamous. The first territorial fights occur as early as October and November, the male determining the territory, the female the nesting hole. The transition from autumn to winter is marked by a final establishment of territories and pre-breeding behaviour. The female and male tend more and more to roost together. Courtship feeding begins in the winter period (December to February), becoming progressively centred on the future nest site.  In Europe the Tawny Owl usually begins breeding in mid-March." from the website: http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Strix&species=aluco.

The area for a territory in good woodland may be as little as 12 Hectares, and the area bounded by the track walk is 26 Hectares, so there is perhaps enough room in this central patch for perhaps two territories, and perhaps more in the wood as a whole. However I have only heard the one male, and it could be the same male as heard for the past few years, and therefore possibly the same pair, as pair-bonds are generally for life (although a few males are thought to form polygamous bonds - that must be hard work!). Any young produced over the years will presumably have dispersed to new vacant territories in the area, if any have been available!

"Tawny Owls lay from two to six eggs, but sometimes only one. The eggs are almost round and pure white and are about 46.7 x 39mm. Normally, they are laid at intervals of 48 hours, and are incubated for 28-29 days by the female alone. When the young have hatched, the male brings more food, either to the nest or to the female waiting nearby. Once the chicks are 6-7 days old the female may leave the nest only to hunt, otherwise remaining near the young. Fledging occurs after 28 to 37 days. Tawny Owls are dependent on their parents for food up to three months after leaving the nest.  As the young owls gradually learn to fend for themselves they also establish territories." (ibid.).

As well as the owls taking up territory, other signs of the developing season are the profusion of different fungi, including these Lawyers' Wigs, or Shaggy Inkcaps, Coprinus comatus, at the start of the track to Ringlet Triangle. This is the best of a bad set of photos. The season is rushing along. Already some have completely deliquesced.

This is a very edible fungus, but other species at least are NOT to be mixed with alcohol within the same week! Eat quite young and very fresh for best results!

Darland Banks East

It is many years since I've been onto the Eastern half of Darland Banks, so I made the effort to stop at Hoath Close today, and approach the steep downland slope from the East side, and this side does seem to have some different plants in it. You get equally good views across the green gap towards Capstone - its such a valuable lung for Gillingham.

A very nice plant to see a little way along the downland was the Blue Fleabane, Erigeron acer (L.), with its greatly reduced ray florets - remarkably pretty! It is also known as the Bitter Fleabane, and has the Latin synonym Erigeron acris, also from Linneaus.

It is an erect hairy annual or biennial about 3 to 15 inches tall with many linear-lanceolate unstalked leaves running up the upright reddish stem, unbranched until the panicle of inflorescences is reached. I didn't see the described basal rosette of stalked leaves.

The ray florets are only just longer than the yellow disc florets, pink-purple, narrow, erect. The bracts appear to me to be similar in shape, neatly pointed, but in rows of differing lengths, each row clearly overlapping the one above. Within a row they do NOT overlap. Each flower head could only just have been the described diameter of 12 - 18 mm as described in Rose, who may have got it from CTW - I would have said nearer 8 mm, and therefore as said to be less than 10mm in Luontoporti, the Finnish website! I need to go back with a ruler. The ring of white might perhaps be styles, but they could be "intermediate" florets, it is rather unclear. The flower heads themselves are held in a loose panicle of about three to half a dozen heads.

It is typically found on calcareous grassland in the UK and flowers from July to August, but is more broadly regarded as growing in rocky places and dry meadows in countries like Finland, where there are several subspecies known varying in factors such as hairiness, colour and number of inflorescences. It has a distribution that extends across to North America. In Kent it is well-known as a regular on this particular site, and I think found quite generally across the county.

Here is another head, this time just coming into fruit with each pappus joining together to appear as a strawy fuzz above the old disc florets. Stunning colour combination to our eyes!

The Yarrow was also looking good!

A very common plant at the top of the slopes was the Sainfoin, Onobrychis viciifolia, with its salmon pink flowers streaked with darker red.

White Hill Reserve

Trying out the camera settings when I climbed the hill to the reserve, I caught this honey bee on a Devil's Bit Scabious, Succisa pratensis.

I think this might be Common Rock-rose, Helianthemum nummularium, and something has been nibbling the edges of some of the leaves. There is a Brown Argus adult to the bottom right, but i don't think the damage is entirely typical of the Brown Argus caterpillar - but maybe its not too far off.

The Dogwood, Cornus sanguinea, was in full berry.

And the yew arils are coloured up as well:

There were a fair number of Carline Thistle, Carlina vulgaris, on the shallower soils at the top of the slope.

and I think this a Dwarf Thistle, Cirsium acaule - amazing tubular structure of the individual florets.

and quite a few possibly different "hawks" in flower, possibly different members of the Asteraceae.

One of the Guelder Rose plants was colouring up very well indeed!

There were fair numbers of Chalkhill Blues, Polyommatus coridon, on the reserve today, perhaps more up the hill than at the bottom. Here was a female that looked as though it was exploring laying an egg.

This is another female, settled on a fairly bare patch of chalk at the top of the hill, and in slightly better condition:

These quite bare patches are really interesting. If you look at the top photo above, you can seen a grey thallose lichen below the butterfly.

And here is a tough moss, partly dessicated, in the section below the nibbled plant.

This is another female with the fringes very much worn away, but otherwise I think recognizeable. The only really worrying thing is that I cannot see a white streak on the v4 of the rear underwing, so I cannot be sure that it is not a Common Blue:

This is a male Chalkhill Blue,

This is another male Chalkhill Blue:

and another:

and a close-up of another head:

Here on the other hand is apparently a worn but originally very blue form of the female Common Blue, Polyommatus icarus.

This is a suspected female, but definitely a Brown Argus from the rear underwing pattern of spots.


This is another Brown Argus, this time possibly a male:

I also came across this vicious looking Robber Fly: