Saturday 9th.July 2016

A picture round up on recent outings .

High Elms transect numbers still very low . Common Blues like this female are having a really poor year .

Most recent transect perked up somewhat with Small Skipper emerging , along with 28 Marbled White ,

and last Sunday , the first two pristine Silver-washed Fritillary .

173 Meadow Brown , and rising , were recorded on the same day .

On one visit , this Roe Buck was found feeding on Burnt Gorse . I managed to get reasonably close with the

100mm. macro lens , before he was off In the area below Biggin Hill Airport , the Small Blues have all but

finished , finding just two faded specimens , but a Cinnabar moth allowed both top and under wing shots

before departing . Other finds included the leaf beetle Cryptocephalus hypochaeridis .

the hoverfly Chrysotoxum bicinctum ,

and a mating pair of the small hooverfly Sphaerophoria scripta .

A look around Keston Ponds , found Rutpella ( formerly Strangalia ) maculata , a longhorn beetle ,

an unusually marked pair ofmating flies , which may be of the Urophora family ,

at least 3 Downy Emerald dragonflies still on the wing and caught in flight ,

the male Black-tailed Skimmer was less energetic .

This pair of Mandarin , the male in front in eclipse , still showing a few ginger whiskers , will look almost identical , before he starts regrowing his colourful feathers .

This female Holly Blue was one of the few seen so far , hopefully the second brood will do better .

Whilst overhead , a passing Common Buzzard was seen off by the local Corvids .

In the garden , thefemale Ichneumon , Gasteruption jaculator , has been a regular visitor . Here , her ovipositor can be seen along with the two protective strands . Also around , 2/3 Cuckoo / Ruby-tailed

Wasps , so called because they lay their eggs in the nests of their host , and when the host seals up the nest hole , the R-tW , hatches first and feeds on the host's larvae , before emerging as an adult . Around the pond

, a freshly emerged female Southern Hawker was seen , possibly the offspring of one of the adults seen laying a couple of years ago .

It was a freshly emerged female Emperor Dragonfly that was found on the heathland up on the Greensand

Ridge , along with just a single male Adder .

A long trip with Martin down to Collards Hill for the Large Blue was a success , finding 7/8 on that site and another 3 on a nearby site . A bonus there was a moth survey going on and a Six-belted Clearwing was

netted and we had the chance to photograph the specimen .
The Down House bird survey produced an average 19 species , without a Swift or Swallow . When a deer

was spotted in the middle of the big meadow , it turned out to be a Fallow stag with somewhat deformed

antlers , but that didn't stop him from doing the same as the Roe Buck at High Elms .

Also found around the site , Corn Cockle / Agrostemma githago , a member of the pink family ,

lots of seeds on the Hornbeams ,

and 5 Violet Helleborines , four pictured here .

On the way back home , an in flight Four-spotted Chaser obliged at Keston Ponds .

A visit to Lullingstone Country Park produced an estimated 250+ Marbled White , with good numbers of females like this one . Also on the wing were 25+ Dark Green Fritillary , the main target . As usual , the

males were frantically searching for a mate or refuelling on the Greater Knapweed , whereas the only female

seen was keeping well away from the males , but that will no doubt change . No sign of Lizard Orchid , in

fact only one Fragrant and many Pyramidal , were the only orchids found . A few Demoiselles along the Darenth but very few damselflies . The only other interest found was a Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn

Beetle , looking like something from outer space .
Last Wednesday , I had a day out in East Kent with Keith . Our first stop was East Blean Woods for Heath

Fritillary . Once the sun got onto the coppiced area , they appeared . The smaller , deeper coloued male on

the left and the larger paler female on the right . We did get a brief coupling , but they broke apart almost

immediately . We also found this male abarrant form .

We spent a couple of enjoyable hours in their company and got a bonus White Admiral too .
From there , we moved on to Westbere Lakes in search of Odonata . As we walked down to the river , it was obvious that Odonata too were in short supply this year , with just the odd sighting of Brown and Norfolk Hawker , Black-tailed Skimmer and Scarce Chaser . The path alonside the river , a hive of activity

on a visit last year proved the same , with just the odd damselfly seen like this mating pair of Blue-tailed , the female being of the rufescens form . A couple of reedbeds then provided good views of one of our targets ,

Norfolk Hawker , and we spent some time photographing the species . We did find a mating pair , but as they settled amongst the reeds , a water authority vehicle came along the narrow bankside path , we had to get out of the way , and that was the last we saw of the pair  Mostly males , as usual squabbling over owners rights to the best parts of the reedbed . Like most Hawkers  their flying speed is incredible and

 to follow them in the viewfinder almost impossible , but we both managed to get in flight shots . We walked as far as the seat , being treated every now and again by a family group of Kingfisher , more often heard than

seen . In the grass by the seat , we found an unusual moth , looking like it had a tattoo of Elton John between the shoulders . I was disappointed to find out that it wasn't the Elton John Moth but the Beautiful China Mark

, a first for us both . Close by , a female Beautiful Demoiselle wasn't to be out-done in the photo shoot . A few plants seen alog the way included ,

Goat's Rue / Galega officinalis , a member of the Pea family ,

Common Valerian / Valeriana officinalis ,

Meadowsweet / Filipendula ulmaria , a member of the Rose family ,

and Skullcap / Scutellaria galericulata , a member of the Labiate family .

We had seen a few male Scarce Chaser , but just before getting back to the ditches , found a mating pair .,

and not far away , looked down the funnel of a spiders web , to find the occupier waiting at the far end , the Labyrinth Spider / Agelena labyrinthica . At the end of the ditches , and un-noticed on our way past earlier ,

we found Amphibious Bistort / Polygonum amphibium , a member of the Dock family ,

then , finally , a sighting of a male Variable Damselfly , another of our target species ,

the best views of the visit of the Norfolk Hawker ,

and even a second mating pair , this time without any vehicle coming by .
By the time we got back home , it had been a twelve hour trip , but most rewarding and the forecast afternoon cloud didn't materialize , as can be seen in the last shot .