Wednesday 19th. August 2015

A look up on the Common failed again to find any Purple Hairstreaks but a couple of butterflies did make it into the viewfinder ;

a pristine male Brimstone ,

and a very fresh Brown Argus .

Only other interest found was lots of stunted , like many other plants this year , specimens of Common Toadflax / Linaria vulgaris , a member of the Figwort family .
The first of two High Elms LNR butterfly transects was carried out in a brief sunny spell in an otherwise cloudy day , and the results reflected this , but it was my only chance that week . Just 12 species , including 15 Brown Argus but only 7 Silver-washed Fritillary and not a single White-letter Hairstreak .
A visit to Sevenoaks Reserve became a day of reflections , as the only opportunity to photograph a

Kingfisher was when one perched briefly in the Willow on the island outside Willow Hide . Plenty of sightings , but not a single landing on the stick in front of the hide . Whilst waiting , this juvenile

Grey Heron proved a bit more obliging . A pair of Gadwall began the reflections theme ,

An unexpected reflection came when a Green Sandpiper flew in . It spent a lot of time out of view ,

Not to be out-done , a Little Egret , that had been preening up in a tree on the left-hand island ,

decided it was time to reflect on looking for a meal .

The tiniest of Little Grebes joined in ,

as did it's Great Crested relation . Eight species of butterfly were recorded , all in small number , and Odonata were represented by Brown , Southern and Migrant Hawker , an immature male of  the latter

being the only one willing to be photographed . Damselflies were represented by Common Blue , Blue-tailed and Small Red-eyed . The walk back to the car , produced a pair of Speckled Bush-

crickets enjoying the sun on an Alder leaf , the female on the right , sporting her scimitar shaped

ovipositor , and on a flowering Hogweed , a Rose Sawfly / Arge pagana , showing it's orange / yellow abdomen .
A visit to White Hill , above Shoreham railway station , a site managed specifically for Chalkhill Blues , found reasonable numbers , 75+, several females amongst that figure , but I have seen many more on site in previous years . 10 species in total were recorded , including another 7 Brown Argus .

A couple of Treble Bar , day flying moths were also seen , a species I personally haven't seen much of in recent years . The strangest sighting was when I spotted something yellow down in the grass .

It turned out to be just a male Dark Bush-cricket , but it was the first time I had seen the underside of

it's abdomen and certainly caused some head scratching before it was sorted out .
Today's HE butterfly transect was in better weather this morning , though it clouded over as I got back to the car park . 16 species were recorded , 29 Silver-washed Fritillary , with over 50% of those

being female , although some of them are rather tatty to say the least , but things look very good for

next year . Several fresh Peacocks were recorded , hopefully , Winter will be kind to them in hibernation , to emerge and breed next Spring . Several Hawker dragonflies were seen on the way

round , Brown , Migrant and on Burnt Gorse a very smart male Southern Hawker , posed in the sunshine .
And finally , a moth found sheltering on the back of the house from the overnight rain , turned out to

be a Willow Beauty . Many thanks to Martin for the ID .