Sunday 14th. July 2013

Yesterday morning , I got out early in the hope of avoiding the hottest of the day , and also to find the first Purple Hairstreak of the year . I stopped first at West Wickham Common , and searched Bramble and Bracken below Oak trees , a favoured warming up spot for the species early morning . The Oak trees that were already in the sun were also searched , by none wee found . A consolation was a very

fresh Small Tortoiseshell , looking very colourful in the early sunlight , and a surprise couple of

Marbled Whites , both females , given that they were on the edge of the heath restoration area , which is mainly covered with Heather , with just a small amount of rough grassland on the edges . Large

Skipper , Green-veined White , Meadow Brown , Ringlet and a single Comma , pictured , were also recorded . I then moved on to the Ash tree in the glade on Hayes Common , and took up position looking into the topmost branches , where male PHs battle for the best positions , but once again , all was quiet . Small Skipper , Large White and Small Heath were added to the records , along with another female Marbled White , this time in the more normal surroundings of an open woodland

glade , identified as such by the brown markings on the underside of the hindwing . A couple of other

bits of interest found included this strange looking fly , the identity of which I am still working on , Very many thanks to ShySongbird for saving me ages trawling through pictures of flies , by identifying this one as Sicus ferrugineus , one of the Thick-headed Flies . Really appreciated as I am still processing photos taken two weeks ago .

and Lucerne / Medicago sativa , a member of the Pea family , which is widely grown as Alfalfa , a feed for cattle .
This morning , with just a week till the Kent BC visit , I headed off to High Elms , to do the full butterfly transect and hopefully the species that they will be hoping to see . I must say that the recent warm , sunny spell has made a great improvement in numbers recorded , especially to Small Skippers and Marbled Whites . The full list recorded was :
Small Skipper (75) , Large Skipper (2) , Large White (5) , Common Blue (1-a very worn female) ,

White Admiral (1-pictured at distance , just before it flew off) , Small Tortoiseshell (1) , Peacock (1-another very faded specimen) , Comma (1) , Silver-washed Fritillary (3-all fast fly-bys) , Speckled Wood (10) , Marbled White ( a fantastic 73 , including 3 mating pairs , 69 of which found in one

small area . The top two shots show the black marking on the underside of the male's hindwing , and the last shot shows the golden leading edge on the female's forewing) , Meadow Brown (223-

including a mating pair , pictured), and Ringlet (221) . A few bits of interest found on the way round included ,

good amounts of Lady's Bedstraw / Galium verum , making a nice change from the usual white ,

the pretty Musk mallow / Malva moschata ,

and finally , a distant bad shot of a Hornet searching a Bramble for breakfast . I have seen several recently , but this was the only one I managed to get in the viewfinder .
With the warm weather due to continue , hopefully more SWFs and WAs will emerge , and perhaps even the White-letter Hairstreaks will show up by next Sunday .