On a short trip to Kent I managed to squeeze in a couple of butterfly spotting visits. On Friday I drove over to East Blean woods where there is a colony of the rare heath fritillary butterflies. I first visited the site 3 years ago but thought it would be rather nice to see them again. It was a hot day but I got to the carpark by 1030 and ventured into the woods where the trees were keeping things somewhat cooler. I was slightly unsure if I would still find the heath fritillaries in the same place as before but I needn't have worried. Cow wheat which is the caterpillar food plant was still growing alongside the path and I saw my first butterfly sunbathing on some bracken a few hundred metres after the reserve entrance. I think I saw a couple of dozen butterflies although there were probably many more. As the temperature rose the butterflies became more active and less inclined to settle but it was good to see them once again.
On my return journey home the forecast was for substantiallly lower temperatures and some rain spreading from the west so I left Kent in good time to try and reach Silchester Common to search for silver studded blues. It was still quite warm at 22° when I got there but it had clouded over and I felt a few spots of rain. I thought it would still be worth taking a look in case it brightened up so followed a route to an area of heather and gorse. It was still spitting a bit with rain so I was quite surprised to see two butterflies suddenly start fluttering about just above the heather. I lost them as they flew off but as the sky brightened, others became noticeable and I saw up to six at any one time. I'm sure I would have seen a lot more if it had been sunnier. The ones I saw were all males.
Whilst there, I saw a lare yellow and black dragonfly zoom past which I suspected could have been a golden ringed but sadly I couldn't identify it. It appeared to come to a halt behind a group of bushes but I couldn't locate it .A pity as I would have loved to seen it closer and be able to identify it as I've not see one before. .
As I turned to go back to the car the rain started in earnest.....
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