Thursday 27th. June 2013

It was early doors this morning , alarm 0345 , on the road 0430 , to help with the bird survey on a farm near Bewl Water Reservoir , starting at 0530 . Thankfully the weather was better than the first visit in April , but the sightings were not much better , and we didn't get the Red Kite and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker this time . Lots of Tit families in the hedgerows and a recently fledged Wren family , and a Common Buzzard soaring overhead were the highlights . Roger is going to let me know the full results and if I remember , I'll post them at that time . Just a couple of shots taken on

the way round , I thought I hadn't seen this hoverfly before , and digging when I got home , think it is Xanthogramma pedissequum . I have had a close relation X.citrofasciatum before , but not this one . I missed the Grass Snake that was sunning itself on the edge of a pond , but did get an immature

White-legged Damselfly . We were finished the survey by 1000 , and as I was almost passing it on the way home , I decided to stop off at Lullingstone Country Park , where the other Keith from High Elms had photographed the first Dark Green Fritillaries of the year at the weekend . Only trouble with that plan was that the nearer I got to Lullingstone the cloudier it got . I made my way quickly to the Orchid Bank , situated in the middle of the golf course , and on arrival , spotted two DGFs on the bottom of the slope . As I spotted them , the sun went in , and they disappeared . I started my search of the slope , but after two circuits , there was no other sightings and the sun was still missing too . I

did find the two Lizard Orchids / Himantoglossum hircinum , more than last year I believe , but well down on previous years . Described as an untidy-looking flower spike , I suppose it is , but when you

look closely at the 'lizards' , there is nothing untidy about them , and they do look like lizards . The sun came and went , with the usual result of butterflies on the wing , then not , but still no DGFs. I

did find a male Large Skipper , nectaring on one of the Greater Knapweed flowers , which is a favourite of the DGF too . Later on , I found a female , giving the chance to compare the two . The

dark sex brand on the upper wing of the male is missing , and the abdomen is shorter and wider than that of the male . Also on the wing were 20/25 Common Blue , 3 Small Heath , a single male Brown Argus and a single Meadow Brown . Other orchids found included two Bee , several Fragrant and

lots of Pyramidal , including an unusual pale specimen . Of course the more normal colour of the

orchid is pink , and it just so happened that I photographed the first DGF on such a flower . Once I got sight of the DGF , I kept it like that and managed to get a good number of shots on another of  it's

favourite flowers Field Scabious . With the cloud came the wind which is not unusual for the site , but try as I may , I couldn't get a decent underwing shot whilst it was nectaring . The best I could

manage was when it was sheltering in ground vegetation , waiting for the sun to re-appear . By 1300 , the cloud cover was almost total and the temperature had dropped , and had only seen definite 2 possibly 3 specimens , worrying as it is about 5 days since Keith had his sightings , and once emergence starts , it usually continues at a rate . I will get another opportunity to get back again , so I

headed back to the car park , on the way getting a male Banded Demoiselle , also sheltering , and in

the same area , the flower of Deadly Nightshade / Atropa bella-donna . Before heading home , I searched a pull-in on a busy road and found 23 specimens of Green-flowered Helleborine / Epipactis

phyllanthes , a member of the Orchid family , in their early stages . Like many things , that number is well down from the 70+ specimens that used to be found there .