The Green Lane to Stallions Green

After parking the car at the college's equine unit, I walked up to the start of the Green Lane by the manure heap and the Queen Elizabeth Wood. It was great to see the Countryside Students' Interpretation Board, and it reminded me what a great job Phil had done in setting it all up!

There were good numbers of Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns in the first section where it was fairly open, and the two patches further along where the canopy opened up enough to allow the brambles a bit more space to develop some flower. The other aspects of the necessary habitat factors for all the different behaviours and life stages could be reasonably close by, but don't have to be gathered all in one place.

Here is a close-up of a Meadow Brown, Maniola jurtina, happily nectaring on Spear (or Apple) Mint flowers:

and here is a close-up of a Gatekeeper, Pyronia tithonus:

As I watched the Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers, I caught a glimpse of something about 4 - 5 m up in the air and realised that a Large Skipper, Ochlodes sylvanus, was using the tip of a high bramble apparently as a lookout post. They are supposed to lie in wait in the afternoons, but I didn't know they did this high up, and this reminded me that its a good idea to look upwards sometimes! Interestingly it perched just next to what looked like a stationary sawfly, which I noticed when I cropped the first picture.

Parish trees and the Cricket Ground

Accompanied Darren Hood in the occasional inspection (tree safety audit) of the Parish Council owned trees, and had the great pleasure of visiting the delightful cricket ground first.

Leybourne Lakes

What a pity I didn't have a camera with me today.

Nice to see Purple Loosestrife, Fleabane and Birds-foot Trefoil in full flower. I checked on the details of the Birds-foot Trefoil, Lotus corniculatus, as it is such a common but interesting plant, and also I could compare it with the Narrow-Leaved Birds-foot Trefoil, Lotus glaber (tenuis), which I had seen at Oare Marshes the day before. 

In Rose, the text refers to the low, creeping, more or less hairless character of the plant, and the solid stems of the native form. The sepal teeth are clearly upright at the bud stage, and I believe at a later stage (the mature flower - might also be worth checking in fruit?) when you look at the overall shape of the teeth, you see that the upper two teeth do not continue to difurcate at the tips - they should be near parallel, or even converge, giving an overall "obtuse angle" at the base.

Whetsted Gravel Pits, 29/06/2014.

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.