Hello Goldie , Don,t give up on Clouded Yellows just yet ! We had a fresh female at Dungeness this morning ,and a Painted Lady (AND 200+ Small Coppers yesterday !) 3 or 4 (Cloudys ) were reported close to where i live on the outskirts of Ashford at Park farm estate .............they,re also showing ...

Forgot to mention in my last post ............we also saw 1 Large White a Peacock and 2 worn Small Heath at Dungeness.
Allan.W.

A few bits and pieces from yesterday . Our "Saturday" visit to Dungeness became our Friday trip ! for one reason or another .The weather was pretty warm albeit quite breezy ,we decided to do another Small Copper count ,and from the main car park we crossed the shingle by the old station re...

Hello Dave ,
I,ve sent a PM ,Hopefully you,ll get it ..............I don,t have a very good track record sending PM,s ,but it did say "message sent" ,so i might have got lucky ! Allan.W.

Hello Dave ,
Concerning the Wood sculpture i mentioned ie; "The Lady in the woods " I,ll post a couple of my sons shots ,if you don,t mind me posting on your diary .............goes without saying to delete them,if you want,once you,ve had a look . Regards Allan W.

Yes I agree ,a wonderful piece of wood art .............love to see that ! By coincidence i put my oldest son onto a piece of wood art in a very secluded wood here in Kent ,its about a mile and a half from the nearest road and people were once very protective of its wherabouts but in recent times it...

Good to see that someones seeing a few Clouded Yellows David ..........nice one ! they,re very thin on the ground this season in Kent ,the only place where a few are being consistantly reported here is on the isle of Grain (Cliffe Pools )..........i suppose its still early ......things may pick up y...

Yes Bugboy ,I guess thats another possibility,thanks for your thoughts . This morning after our usual visit to the father in law (at St.Marys bay ) and we,d done a few jobs we headed for a late breakfast to Dungeness . It was alive with Small Coppers ! other species seen were several Small Whites an...

Thanks David ! nice to find them . I must admit when i posted re; aged Peacock ,it did seem to be a VERY long shot that it had survived for so long .............but whatever ,very unusual !
Thanks for your thoughts David and Essex. Allan.W.

The third brood of Small Coppers is now in full swing at Dungeness (Kent ) .I arrived around 9.30 am , the weather wasn,t playing ball at first with fairly thick but high cloud ,but it was still pretty warm (19c) after about twenty minutes of wandering ,and as the clouds parted and the sun appeared ...

Hello Dansim ,
Your caterpillar looks like a Peppered Moth (Biston Betularia) to me .
Allan.W.

Late afternoon today decided to do a proper Peacock count in my local woodland (Orlestone forest ,Kent ) just the one section ,i would guess that the route is probably just under a mile give or take . I only counted those that were in front of me and around three or four metres either side . I count...

Funnily enough Dave ,a couple of days back i found two fully grown Peacock larvae ............wandering ....looking for somewhere to pupate . I had an hour late afternoon today on the same beat as yesterday and although i didn,t count them ,there were certainly around 20 (Peacock ) flying. Allan.W.

Plenty of Peacocks David but very, very few Clouded Yellows ............been enjoying your Cloudie posts ! Good numbers of Comma and Red Admirals still showing ...............but Small Torts have finished .............did have a late (ish) female Meadow Brown at Dungeness today plus a flybye male Cl...

Hello Goldie ,
Two Cloudies reported from Cliffe Pools (on Grain ) yesterday ...........terrific reserve ,but a bit of a hike ! We had one today at Dungeness ,only my second of the season ,the first on May 5th at Samphire Ho !
Good hunting ! Allan.W.

A female Long -Tail briefly in the Dungeness bird obs garden late morning ,nectaring on the flower pot plants directly below the Large Bladder Senna Shrub ,which hosted an egg laying female 3-4 years back ........................We were ten minutes too late !
Allan.W.

Had a couple of hours in the local woods this afternoon ,quite warm .........around 19 c with some cloud ,which helped slow the butterflies down a bit . Still a good mixture of species on show ,with many Peacocks on the wing . P1380134.JPG P1370925.JPG I reckon around 30 in all including the minor A...

Whoops ................meant Chalkhill not Common ! Allan.W.

Thats a wierd looking Brown Arg Dave ..............with the bright blue body .........at a quick glance ,i thought it was a "Brown " female Common Blue ..................but the body shape and length is a bit of a giveaway ! very unusual ! I know i,ve already commented on your Gynandrous C...

Yes ,as you say Bugboy reasonable numbers were noted in Kent earlier on ,and like yourself i was lucky enough to see probably around three at the well publicised spot near the Dover Patrol monument at St. Margarets. I know that a freshly emerged female was released there later on reared from a larva...