21st June - Blean Woods and Leybourne Lakes CP, Kent

We were down in Kent for the weekend visiting my daughter and son-in-law and on the Saturday I had the chance to get out.  At this time of year the focus isn't on the birds but on the rae butterfly found in Kent, the Heath Fritillary, so with my on-in law, we set off for Blean Woods on the outskirts of Canterbury.  I have been here before on a couple of occasions, but missed in tlast year.  The last visit was in 2023 and the weather was decidedly different, overcast but mild with rain showers.  I managed to see a few, but it was nothing like the first time I visited in 2022 when they appeared to be everywhere.

Today was forecast to be the hottest day of the year so far and as we drove the M2 towards Canterbury the temperature was recording 27 degrees celsius at just after 9.00am.  You park in a side street and then walk across the road and down a footpath into the wood.  Once you pass an RSPB sign there is a clearing on the left hand side known as Cook's Clearing and it was here the search began.  There were plenty of Meadow Browns on the wing, but no sign of the Heath Fritillaries.  At this time of day as the temperature rises, they roost on the bracken leaves and we quickly found one.

Then others appeared on the bracken and several were now on the wing but not settling.

Amongst the Meadow Brown, a single Ringlet, showing off the spots that give it the name.

We left the clearing and walked along the main path.  Another clearing was full of tall thistles that were flowering and this was proving a magnet to the Heath Fritillaries that by now appeared to be just everywhere.

The Heath Fritillary has historically been linked with the traditional practice of woodland coppicing, giving it the nickname of the 'Woodman's Follower' as it follows the cycle of cutting around a wood.

The male is the more conspicuous of the two sexes as it patrols clearings in search of a mate. They can be seen flying close to the ground alternating a few flicks of their wings with a short glide. The female has a much more laboured flight, weighed down by her load of eggs. Having found a suitable area, she will crawl around the vegetation before laying an untidy batch of up to 150 eggs. These are typically laid close to the foodplant on the underside of a Bramble leaf, or on a dead leaf. Both sexes can often be found in the company of others as they bask on shrubs.

The Heath Fritillary is distinguished by its dusky wing colours. It is restricted to a few specialised habitats where it flies close to the ground with characteristic flits and glides.

The Heath Fritillary is a highly-threatened butterfly that would, almost certainly, have become extinct in the UK were it not for conservation efforts over the past two decades. Restricted to Exmoor, a few woodlands here in Kent, and some in Essex, and the Cornwall/Devon border.

The thistles were an attraction to other butterflies, my first Silver-washed Fritillary of the year patrolled the area but never settled, while a couple of Small Skippers enjoyed the opportunity to nectar.

A Small White appeared and went straight to the thistle flowers, the flowers were in full sun and the butterfly backlit against a black background which produced some stunning images

A close up of the insect nectaring.

We left the clearing and walked on.  The Heath Fritillaries were everywhere, the numbers well into the hundreds. 

Meadow Browns are not a butterfly that is photographed that much after the first ones are seen in early June, but this male caught my eye as it sat on an Oak leaf in the sunshine with the lovely black background.

We turned off the main path and walked along a ride.  An open clearling with Bracken and Bramble not only had Heath Fritillaries but also a couple of marauding Sliver-washed Fritillaries, one of which settled on the stem of a small shrub, this time with a lovely washed green background.

This powerful flying butterfly is named after the the silvery wash on the underside of the hind wing.  This can appear slightly greenish in certain lights, but it lacks the distinctive white spots seen in the similar Dark-green Fritillary.

We walked a loop of the woods in what was now very hot conditions, the Heath Fritillaries kept on coming all the way back to the car.  Birds seen and heard were Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Song Thrush and Wren.  On previous visits I had heard and seen Nightingale, but not today.  Hopefully I would come across them on the next place visited.

My daughter lives close to Leybourne Lakes Country Park in New Hythe.  This is one of the most reliable sights to see Nightingales and my son-in-law has had great fortune in seeing and photographing them this spring.  He was keen to show me the spots and hopefully the birds, so after lunch we set off in the heat.

As we crossed a stream, what seemed like a Nightingale flew across into the scrub, but we were not able to locate it.  In the stream, from the bridge there was a Banded Demoiselle male.

We followed the paths to the spots where the Nightingales have been seen, but without any luck, there were though plenty of Damselflies, this a Common Blue male.

There are twelve lakes in the area, some of which the public can use, others are owned and managed by fishing associations, the attraction being large carp, that today we could see in the shallow water, probably spawning.  With them was this Terrapin, an escapee of just something that was let go here.

A lovely Red Admiral on one of the many bramble bushes around the park.

Our walk took us out to a view point that overlooked the River Medway.  The river is tidal here as it winds its way out into the north sea just past Chatham.  The river rises somewhere on the Kent Sussex border.  In this heat, with the tidal mud exposed, it felt like you should be seeing crocodiles bask on the shore.

Walking back the wind was picking up and away to the west the clouds looked a little menacing, the hot weather soon to break.  In one of the grass areas I came across this mating pair of Green-veined Whites.

As we walked down one of the tracks we finally heard a burst of Nightingale song.  It appeared to be quite close to the path.  We waited and managed to see it move from bush to bush and deliver more snatches of song.  Eventually it flew in front of us, across the path and away out of sight.  No photographs, but it was nice to both see and hear the bird.

We followed a stream where there were Black-tailed Skimmers.

And at one of the fishing pegs there was this pair of Small Red-eyed Damselflies mating.

Despite the intense heat of the day, it had been very successful.  Wonderful to see the many Heath Fritillaries once again and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the many places around the country park.  I will definitely make sure I come back in the early spring when the Nightingales are at their very best.