I originally hadn't planned to come here at all, but a visitor to Ravenswood recently recommended this area as an excellent place to see Wood White butterflies, a small delicate butterfly with rounded wings which favours shady rides and clearings. There are normally two broods, flying May- June and July- Aug and I was unsure if the second brood would be on the wing yet.
The weather was cloudy but warm and as I made my way along the main track no butterflies could be seen. Better weather had been forecast, however, and as I continued to walk up a slight incline, it seemed to become a little brighter. A few ringlets began to flutter around then a white admiral floated past. Then I noticed a small white butterfly a little way ahead, fluttering just above the flower and grasses. It didn't stop but then I saw a second one a little further ahead. Could these be wood whites? Their small size and weak flight made me optimistic but I couldn't be certain unless one of them stopped. Then one of them did so, suspended delicately from some tall grasses. Yes...it was a wood white! I couldn't believe how quickly I'd found one. I took a number of photos; occasionally it would flutter off but not very fast or far and I was able to catch up with it easily.
As I still had a long journey ahead of me I decided I would return to the car; on my way I came across three white admirals, taking it in turns to fly then stop on the track ahead of me. They were rather tatty but still lovely butterflies to see.
Two hours later and I was at East Blean woods near Canterbury. By this time the skies had cleared and the sun had come out and it was getting quite hot. This time I was looking for heath fritillaries - rare butterflies that can only be seen in one or two places in the uk. Again, I feared that their main flight period was over, but I was hoping that one of two might still be around. I spoke to a couple of visitors who were just leaving their car, armed with a camera and enquired about heath fritillaries. 'We saw some here on Tuesday,' they said, and suggested I followed them which I did. Only about 50 yards from the car we found the first few fritillaries. The yellow flowers of cow-wheat - the caterpillars' food plant - were fading but amongst the vegetation were ringlets, meadow browns, gatekeepers and the heath fritillaries. It was sometimes quite hard to spot them when they were flying, with so many brown species, but once they landed we could see their beautiful patterned wing pattern. One obliging individual stayed for ages on one plant, which was growing up in the middle of the path giving ample photograph opportunities, even being joined by a mate.
We saw easily a dozen fritillaries, but also other species butterflies around included silver washed fritillaries, and white admirals, and underneath some oaks I had brilliant views of purple hairstreaks at two different locations.
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