Heath Fritillary

I was in the Canterbury area on Monday so took the opportunity to look for a couple rarities that hold territory in Kent. The first was the Heath Fritillary which can be found in Blean Wood.

Two years ago we visited on the 17th June and must have got the timing just right. We saw hundreds of them and most in good condition. This year I was two and a half weeks later. I thought, that with the seasons generally running a bit later this year, I would be alright, but it wasn't to be. I only had about a dozen sightings and most of those were in poor condition.

Fortunately I did find a couple of decent specimens.

Ringlets obviously come out a couple of weeks later than the Heath Frits as the wood was full of them and this time all in good condition.

A few Large Skippers

And a nice grass moth probably Chrysoteuchia culmella

My other target was the Willow Emerald Damselfly and I had no luck at all with that. Probably two weeks too early for that one.

Silver-washed Fritillary

Late afternoon and Sue suggested going for a walk to make the most of the sunshine. I managed to talk her out of walking to the shops and instead we headed off to Houghton Forest to have a look for the butterflies. Dave had already tipped me off to the Marbled Whites and I was hoping to see Silver-washed Fritillaries and White Admirals as well.

The Marbled Whites were easy to find and photograph although none were really posing for a closed wing shot which I always think shows them at there best.

Marbled Whites

Marbled White

The only closed wing shot I managed

Sue is always a lot happier chasing after butterflies in the summer than being out in the middle of winter birding. She uses the little Canon SX50 and gets some good pictures which I always find a bit annoying given how difficult I find that camera to use.

The real find of the day was the Silver-washed Fritillary. I had seen one the day before but it was on a high speed fly through in the lower canopy and could not really be claimed as a first sighting. This one was nectaring on brambles but unfortunately was staying at the back of the thicket making it difficult to get a decent shot. These pictures are taken on a 400mm lens.

Silver-washed Fritillary

There were a range of other butterflies around as well, Common Blue, Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Small Heath, Brimstone, Speckled Wood, and one White Admiral although I did not get to see it.

Ringlet

Small Heath 

and a really tatty Grizzled Skipper still hanging on

Grizzled Skipper 

Heath Fritillary

The Heath Fritillary is one of the rarest butterflies in the country with only a few colonies in Kent, Essex and on the moors down in the South West. I had never seen one before so success today would be a life tick for me. The reports from our destination, Blean Wood, had been promising but we were uncertain as to what we would find. On the way down we agreed that we would be happy to just see one and more than happy if we could get a record shot.

Rather than heading for the usual location of the car park in East Blean Woods we were following directions that Dave had received from a contact down in Kent. We parked up and headed off into the wood to find the glade we were looking for. It was overcast and cool and there were no butterflies flying but as we stepped into the glade I spotted one on some Cow Wheat. I took a couple of quick snaps and Dave was in a bit of a panic to get his camera out before I spooked it. It was only then that we realised that they were all around us and that you actually had to be careful to ensure that you didn't step on them.

Heath Fritillary on Cow Wheat

The report we had was of forty of the Fritillary in the glade. Our estimate was for a lot more than this. Then the sun came out and suddenly there was a blanket of butterflies dancing about six inches above the glade. We must have just been lucky with the timing of our visit. I cannot remember ever having seen so many butterflies in such a small space.

In good condition

Mating

So plentiful were the Heath Fritillaries that the major highlight of the morning was when a Meadow Brown and then a Ringlet flew through the glade.

Ringlet

This was a truly memorable days butterfying and helped quell that nagging feeling that I should really be in Ashdown Forest getting a better picture of the Short-toed Eagle. With the Ringlet this brings the butterfly total to thirty two for the year. It looks as though we will make our target of forty with some too spare.

One final picture, I think it must be of a female Meadow Grasshopper. My first thoughts were that it was too small to be this but I cannot find any other alternative and reading up on them they do have a size range from 23mm down to 10mm.