Milton Creek on the 1st of July

This is a male Black-tailed Skimmer, Orthetrum cancellatum, which can sometimes be a little tricky to distinguish from the other skimmers and chasers in the genus Libellula and Orthetrum respectively, the family Libellulids.

Clues you might pick up on are the dark pointed tip to the abdomen, the lack of ante-humeral stripes on the very brown thorax, the lack of any blackish wing-bases, the yellowish costa on both wings, the black tip spot on the wing tips, and the green-blue eyes (from above). A characteristic "path-rester", often found sunbathing on bare soil, but in this case seen perched on vegetation by the fishing pond.

Mainly dragons at Leybourne Lakes

I paused to see what I could find from the footbridge over the main stream through the park.

It was very interesting to see the apparent split in behaviour between the male and female Banded Demoiselles, with the males getting into territorial activity down by the water edge, while the females tend to hold back, often being seen higher up or further back, resting more calmly on the vegetation.

The males occasionally stayed still enough for a photograph, in their finery:

I only found one Black-tailed Skimmer, quite fresh, off the path by the side of the stream, perhaps as the paths were so well-traveled on this warm afternoon:

There were also a few Blue Tailed Damselflies on the vegetation:

Then I moved on to the "Key Conservation Area" pond, where there many dozens of male Common Blue Damselflies feeding and resting on the vegetation 10 m or so away from the water's edge.

Mainly dragons at Leybourne Lakes

I paused to see what I could find from the footbridge over the main stream through the park.

It was very interesting to see the apparent split in behaviour between the male and female Banded Demoiselles, with the males getting into territorial activity down by the water edge, while the females tend to hold back, often being seen higher up or further back, resting more calmly on the vegetation.

I only found one Black-tailed Skimmer, quite fresh, off the path by the side of the stream, perhaps as the paths were so well-traveled on this warm afternoon:

Barden Lake

Slow ramble around Barden Lake looking for birds, especially yearlings birds, and dragonflies.

The pair of Swans still had their seven cygnets, safe so far from pike and other predators.

Interesting link to a Guardian article on the species expansion. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/may/25/specieswatch-egyptian-goose-breeding-population

I think this is the closest I have ever actually been to a Red-eyed Damselfly, come to the shore in order to find a place to mate or lay eggs perhaps. I hadn't realised how fuzzy their thoraxes are! There is no sign of any ante-humeral stripes on the males of the Red-Eyed Damselfly, a useful separation feature. 

The male is in reasonable focus here.

This picture brings the female into focus a little better, noting the broken lines of the ante-humeral stripes, forming "exclamation marks", another useful separation feature, parallel to that for the male above.

I found one pair of White Legged Damselfly on the edge of the shallows.

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. 

Below Brenchley

I got to the viewpoint to the north of Brenchley and was very impressed. The whole of the Low Weald is spread out before you. Beyond it the Lower Greensand Ridge rises up in the far distance apparently along the whole length of the horizon. I drove about for a bit trying to find the footpaths until I found a pull-in on the side of Knowle Road below Knole Cottages, more or less in sight of the viewpoint. 

The land on the slope just here is arable and the footpath has not been fully maintained. The crop is almost weedless except in the grassed tramline tracks, there is no grassed headland here and virtually the only non-crop vegetation is in the actual ditches themselves. This is mainly Nettle, Willowherb, Hedge Bindweed, with a bit of Purple Loosestrife. 

The wood just uphill of the path had a buzzard circling low close by, calling regularly, and possibly roosting there, perhaps having had a nest this year. Marked on the map as Winsborough Wood, it looks as though it might have some useful habitat, a mix of woodland with a bit of rough grass, worth investigating at some stage. 

I passed the wood by for the moment.  The area is very quiet and peaceful, with some-one setting a bonfire in the garden of the White Cottage. I followed the ditches and then the marked footpath towards the White Cottage. There were a couple of walkers travelling in the other direction consulting the map to see where the footpath had gone. 

The path eventually finds its way through the garden of the White Cottage to Mile Oak Road. Mile End is a really nice tiny little hamlet with a super wooden sign. 

I walked along the quiet Knole Lane until I reached the footpath by Orchard Place Farm Fishing Ponds that leads north to Pearsons Green Road. This is a long well treed path passing between the ponds, even if the oaks are a bit scraggy. There in a junction I found what looked large enough to be an Emperor Dragonfly - it looked quite dark along the abdomen but I just saw a greenish hint to the side of the thorax - a female possibly. The path has been churned up by at least one horse - there is one in the paddock of Orchard Place Farm.

Pearsons Green Road leads to the East quickly back into Knole Road which turns back South through some fields of longer grass to either side. Oddly enough there was a CCTV warning sign. As I walked up the road I thought I heard a young woodpecker yakking in a dead tree along a fisheries track, and then I heard a young robin hungrily chitting for food to its parents in the excellent mixed hedgerows. I then walked past the Longbrooks development and then the junction with Knole Lane, to where the car is parked.

As I passed the junction opposite the very attractive gates of Trenches Farm, I was suddenly enveloped by a large group of long-tailed Tits and some Warblers (Chiffchaffs?) Calling gently to themselves, this was a magical moment as I stood still enough not to alarm the birds and I got great views as well as listening, for what seemed to be about two minutes. 

Overall I had walked about two and a half kilometres, see maps below.

Back at the car I greeted another dogwalker before heading off to Dene Park to complete my target with two quick circuits. No sign of Purple Hairstreaks in the cool of the evening today, despite some sunshine. 

Dene Park damply

Got in my three circuits in the half-drizzle, and noted with pleasure both the Lesser Spearwort, Ranunculus flammula, and the Goldenrod, Solidago virgaurea, in flower along the back track by the Scambles. The Lesser Spearwort has a long flowering season (ideally I would check for the furrowed flower stalks) lasting from May to September, but the Goldenrod is only recently in flower, although its official season is July to September.

In a brief burst of dry half way round the first time I was delighted to see three or more Purple Hairstreak, on the oak I often look at by the far triangle along by Point Wood. I saw two of them again in a brief burst of warm sunshine on the same tree on the third circuit. Perhaps if I looked more at other trees more carefully I might see them more widely, but still they seem "thin on the ground" this year.

There were half a dozen Migrant Hawkers in the far triangle on the first stop, and four over the grass by the car park as I left, their wings twinkling against the back-drop of the setting sun. I didn't note any Southern Hawkers. All in all a nice late afternoon, before I set out on the Daubenton's survey by the River Medway this evening.

Down to Whetsted Gravel pits

As I got down to East Lock I paused to check for insects and particularly hoverflies at the wild-flower seed enhanced area just north of the lock. I had by now seen several Eristalis pertinax and here was my first Sphaerophoria female of the day, hovering about the Perforate St. John's Wort, Hypericum perforatum.

There was also this very nice hairy red beetle, which I feel should really be recognizable to someone if I had the gall to put this single side view on ispot !

While I was looking at the pictures of this Lesser Stitchwort, Stellaria minor, I noticed a tiny grub, possibly a Lepidopteran caterpillar (?) on the left-hand flower.

Crossing Poor's Meadow I saw that the farmer had started to cut the grass for hay, as is the tradition. The meadow is not particularly flower rich, but may contain some Dyers Greenweed on the southern wooded margin according to the BSBI visit report.

As well as keeping the field traditionally managed, the farmer has also, by accident or design, left the broken down old oak tree as a dead wood habitat.

After Poor's Meadow I crossed the wheat crop, which was ripening well, on the clay field which contains the Shepherds Needle Scandix pecten-veneris,

Moving on to the gravel pits themselves, there was a very nice patch of Hare's-foot Clover, Trifolium arvense, on the gravelly patch down at the southern end of the causeway across the west gravel pit. This plant is locally common in the Southeast of England, particularly at coastal sites and almost always on sandy soils. I am sure this particular patch has been here for several years, annually regenerating itself from the seed, which has effective dormancy mechanisms.

These are the woolly pink inflorescences that are the most obvious sign of the plant's presence - the leaves are fairly insignificant by comparison.

Here is a close-up of a single inflorescence - you can see the tiny whitish flowers in amongst the purple hairs of the calyces, each in turn fringed with a light pink fuzz, most easily seen in outline on the side of the inflorescence.

This is an older inflorescence in the centre, with the flowers browning from the base of the inflorescence upwards. On the left-hand inflorescence. a single white "pea-family" flower is absolutely fully open.

This may be a better close-up of a fading inflorescence specifically to show the hairs arising the calyx in the centre and the fuzz on the side of the inflorescence.

These are the narrow, grey, somewhat hairy (the hairs are adpressed) trifoliate leaves, with the two pointed reddish somewhat filiform stipules.

The plant keys out on the BSBI crib sheet for the genus, http://www.bsbi.org.uk/Trifolium_Crib.pdf. It is potentially a very important plant - it apparently contains a gene affecting tannin condensation that if successfully transferred into white clover could both increase yield and also reduce both bloat and methane emissions from cattle. This is due to be commercially available in about 2025, if it comes to market.

Another plant I found, in good numbers along the paths around the gravel pits, was the Common Birds-Foot Trefoil, Lotus corniculatus, in the pictures below possibly the cultivated variety cv. sativus. This variety, often used in wild flower seed mixes differs from the normal wild plant in having a hollow stem, being more generally yellow, and is also larger and more robust than the native wild form. When I cut the stem of this plant across it was clearly hollow, so my thinking is that it should be cv. sativus. I also checked the key species-characteristic feature, that the sepals were forward pointing, and not reflexed in the bud stage as in the Greater Birds-Foot Trefoil, Lotus pedunculatus.

In the picture below you can see the suffusion of orange in the petals at bud stage, the way the developing pod pushes the brown remnants of the corolla forward as the pod ripens and lengthens, and the generally forward pointing nature of the sepals.

I do keep on looking for the Greater Birds-Foot Trefoil, Lotus pedunculatus, but never seem to find it. This is known to be a similar robust plant which also has a hollow stem, but should be easily distinguished from corniculatus, whether sativus or not, by the reflexed sepals in the bud, no suffusions of red in the petals, and more than 5 (7) flowers in one inflorescence.

Another plant I was very glad to see today was the Common Centaury, Centaurium erythraea, which is only just starting its proper summer-long flowering season.  The flowers are a lovely pink, held on square stalks (both the pedicels and peduncles are square I think).

Part-way along the causeway I had come across a Long-Winged Conehead nymph, Conocephalus discolor, green with a dark stripe down its dorsum. I hadn't come across this insect before, and in its nymphal stages it is certainly a striking animal.

On the brambles in the hedge-line between the two western gravel pits there was what looked like an adult male (no oviposter) Dark Bush-Cricket, Pholidoptera grisoaptera, with its vestigial wings. I used this great site to try to compare the species. http://www.orthoptera.org.uk/account.aspx?ID=13 but I could not see the underside, which should have been yellow.





This is the first time I have seen the Azure Damselfly, Coenagrion puella, down here at Whetsted Gravel Pits - so I shall have to check the so-called "Common Blues" far more carefully in future. As this was also in the brambles by the big hedge between the gravel pits it may have come out of the small ditch there, as opposed to the Common Blues coming out of the main gravel pits themselves. I still believe the vast majority of the blue damsels seen on this site and around it to be the latter species.

For comparison, here is a Common Blue Damselfly, Enallagma cyathigerum, seen earlier, slightly tangled in some silky fibres, sitting quite quietly on the top of a fencepost along the causeway.

One of the nastiest insects around is the Horse Fly or Cleg, Haemotopota (pluvialis perhaps) with its vicious bite. There was one on the causeway which I admired before I fully realised its identity.

Tower path

Walking from the start of the access trail in the village, it is possible to turn West behind Hadlow Castle and the Tower, along a shady path that comes out on the grassy path area between Meadows North, the Fisheries pond and the ha-ha of the Castle Grounds. Here the grass is allowed to grow longer and in consequence it is a small haven for insects.

After a couple of Meadow Browns (Maniola jurtina) I saw a small skipper flying too fast and orange to be a Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus). I was pretty sure they would be Small Skippers (Thymelicus sylvestris) as it is fairly early in the season, and the Small Skipper is usually a fortnight ahead of its congener species, the Essex Skipper (Thymelicus lineola), but after I saw the close-ups of the photos I became very unsure. The antennae looked black-tipped from most angles I was able to get at, and IF at least some of the insects were males, then the scent glands were short, thin and parallel to the wing edge.

The two photos below are the same insect at different magnifications, and show what I think is a male Essex Skipper, with a short thin scent gland parallel to the edge of the wing. It is really difficult to be sure of the antennae tips.

This is the same male, demonstrating I think at least on the right antenna the deep black on the antenna tip, which does seem to extend to the underside.

This photo is of a different butterfly but it also looks very like a male Essex Skipper. I must admit I was surprised, as I hadn't thought that we had colonies in the Parish, and it looks as though this is one just under our noses.

This is another individual, but again clearly showing the black-tipped antennae

The behaviors involved in mate location, courtship, and mating are described for Thymelicus lineola . Males emerge first and patrol in search of mates, spending >50% of their time in flight. Mate location appears to be primarily visual although males do not readily discriminate between sexes, approaching conspecific males as frequently as females. Both males and females have a typical refusal display, but males are persistent in their approaches, which could explain the occasional aggregation of males around a mating pair and the recovery of two male pairs “in copula.” Male behaviour is discussed in the context of maximizing mating success, given that T. lineola females generally mate only once and sex ratios are often strongly biased in favour of males.

There were very good numbers of male Common Blue Damselflies (Enallagma cyathigerum) in the long grass area, and this one was hanging on to a Cats Ear (Hypochaeris radicata) head. It slowly bent its abdomen up in a stretching movement, for unknown reasons!

There are also a lot of Cinnabar moths, Tyria jacobaeae, and their caterpillars around. Here is a caterpillar on the flower head of Ragwort, Senecio jacobaea.

and here are two more, on top of another inflorescence cluster.

There are also starting to be increasing numbers of the common soldier beetles, Rhagonycha fulva.