I thought that its about time I added a few photos to go with my previous reports. Obviously the finding of Britain's third Sickle-bearing Bush Cricket site, but currently only the second, as the one at Hastings appears to have died out, is the highlight for us of this particular period. I am not in...

Pete, I think the whole site is amazing and has to be one of the best currently available in Britain for any form of Wildlife. It is a wonderful mix of science, information and personal encounters. The Personal Dairies in particular enhance and help in the planning of visits, giving current informat...

Being that I am so far behind with my Diary updates the only way to catch up is just to do a brief summary. I have been so busy lately that paper or computer work is taking a back seat. I shall start with the 19th July 2016 when the highlight was finding a nice patch of the scarce plant Red Hemp Net...

Hi Allan, Slightly deviating, and may be of no interest to you, but last Saturday I found a colony of Crickets at Wye NNR, some of which I photographed. On Thursday I showed them to David Walker (Dungeness Obs Warden) who immediately identified them all as Sickle-bearing Bush Crickets. The only othe...

Hi Goldie, It was really nice to bump into you at Temple Ewell and put a face to a name. A most unexpected meeting, although I knew from a previous post that you were heading Kent way. Glad I could help with the SS Skipper. We saw 11 in total although some were in the upper part of the field the oth...

Hi Allan, Yes I have seen all the cut vegetation along the ditches by the Military Canal. It does seem odd cutting it at this time as it was home to all sorts of Dragonflies, Damselflies and some Butterflies. Presume it was the Environmental Agency doing ditch maintenance rather than the farmer, but...

JULY 2016 We started July by doing a count of Common Spotted Orchid along the rides in Birchet Wood (Orlestone). Our best ever count of 745, which is well up on previous years. Surprisingly few butterflies. The 5th July saw us checking out Samphire Hoe. We did find 3 Marbled Whites and a few skippe...

Firstly I would like to start this diary update by agreeing, like many others, with the excellent analysis of the season so far by Neil Hulme on his PD. He highlights what many of us have been finding, at least here in Kent and Sussex. My own Butterfly counts and sightings agree with his own finding...

Sorry for belated news but we saw our first Heath Fritillary of the year at East Blean Woods (Kent) last Wednesday (8th). Only two, despite an extensive search. Hopefully lots more to follow.

Belated update with photos to match my last two diary entries.

We have only made one distant trip since our last update and that was to see Swallowtails and Norfolk Hawkers in their Norfolk stronghold. More details to follow in our next diary update.

Only a few decent days for Butterflies Here in East Kent the weather recently has been on the poor side for butterflies and moths. Mainly as a result of cold northerly winds, heavy cloud or cold nights. Not ideal conditions for May. The lack of moths in particular is effecting all catches along the...

For pure nostalgia that is the sort of day that will be banked in the memory for ever and brought back into play on those special occasions. There is nothing like sharing magic with your father.

A Mixed Bag . I was wrong in my last update for despite the very cold weather we did see a few butterflies before the end of April. Small Copper, Small White, Peacock, Green Veined White and Orange Tip. How they managed to survive I don't know for I was in my winter coat for most of the period. How...

Added a few photos to update my last diary entry. With temperatures hovering around the 8 or 9 degree mark over the weekend it came as no surprise that we did not see one Butterfly. This is heading for one of the coldest Aprils of recent times in this part of Kent. Today is no better and looking at ...

Is it really Spring? In our area it seems as if Spring starts and then suddenly stops. Really warm days have been few and the winds are mainly in the wrong direction for migration. At least most days have been dry but a cold Northerly or Easterly wind persists. Consequently nature watching has been...

Jack, I stand to be corrected but I think the bottom left is Clouded Drab. As mentioned previously some Northern/ Scottish moths are darker than the Southern versions, others are just variable. One thing I have learnt over the years is that identifying moths is not always easy. Some I leave unidenti...

Jack,
Although the general colour looks a bit odd the white markings strongly suggest Satellite. I know that some moths are darker the further North you go so maybe this is well within range for Satellite.
Dave

The Butterflies and Migrant Birds arrive . It took a while but Good Friday 25th March 2016 produced the first decent day of butterflies and migrant birds. Butterflies were 4 Small Tortoiseshells (1 at Dungeness & 3 at Hamstreet), Peacock (Hamstreet) and a Small White at Dungeness. Not big numbe...

Another bully turns up as The Tropics send us a surprise On the last update I mentioned the fact that a bully of a bird turned up at Dungeness in the form of a brute of a Caspian Gull, well another far larger bully also arrived, this time a 1st winter Glaucous Gull. Even the Greater Black Backs sta...

Surely there is a cost implication in felling old trees and planting new ones. In some cases it is something that is over and above the normal PFI maintenance contract and generates extra income for the Contractor. Obviously Amey are keen to exploit any clause to maximise their return on the contrac...