27th June Another mothing attempt overnight produced two more Privet Hawk Moths and a hoped for Elephant Hawk Moth. Numerous other moths were caught, better than yesterday with pick being several Heart and Darts, a Pale Oak Beauty, three Small Magpies, a Dark Arches, Varied Coronet and a Large Yellow-underwing.
Late morning I again tried for White Admiral at Belfairs and this time was rewarded with one, probably the first to emerge. Usual butterfly suspects present with still many Heath Fritillaries out.
26th June Mike was kind enough to lend me his moth trap so I could see what I had on the garden and the result was three superb Privet Hawk Moths and a bunch of smaller moths that will probably take me weeks to identify.
Vange Marsh early afternoon had a selection of waders, Green Sandpipers, Greeshanks, Spotted Redshanks but there was no sign of the Wood Sandpipers that were here earlier. There was a good showing of skippers and Small Heaths.
After a couple of hours I went to Benfleet Downs where again there was a good selection of butterflies on offer with the hoped for White-letter Hairstreaks now out with two possibly four present.
25th June Some rather cute Colletes succinctus Bee's in the garden feeding on the clover, smart dwarf bees.
21st June After ringing Canon repair it seems it will cost over £180 to get the 1D MkIII fixed; price quoted was excluding replacement parts so in affect this is how it will cost for them to look at it and then it will cost more if there are parts to be replaced. Going to get a Nikon I think, soddin Canon are ridiculous, they seem to make equipment to fail after the warranty runs out so you have no choice other than pay out even more money.
19th June After a truly dismal display last night in the football I needed a little pick me up so I went out to count the Heath Fritillaries at three local sites. I had 156 at Pound Wood, where there was also a Meadow Brown, 66 at Little Haven/Starvelarks Wood and 98 at Belfairs/Dodds Grove.
Despite an increase in numbers over the past week or so my improved mood was soon knocked down in a completely failure in the camera. I was just photographing a pair of Heath when I noticed the images on the screen were all black and I was getting an error 99 code back. After a few minutes I deduced that the shutter was locked and I wasn't going to be getting any more shots today. Bloody Canon, more and more problems with the mark III.
13th June As the ongoing DYI in the garden coupled with a certain sporting event little birding or butterflying has happened but I did manage a couple of hours in Hockley Woods where I counted only 31 Heath Fritillaries, 1 Large White and 2 Holly Blues. Its seems the fritillaries have suffered a population set back from the hundreds that were out at this time last year.
5th June Had enough of DYI at home and had to get out and see some butterflies so went down to East Sussex with Sheryl to Park Corner Heath. We arrived at 8am and were the only people there. This is a great location with plenty of butterlies, moths and birds. We eventually had a count of 11+ Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries, probably the closest site to Essex for this smashing butterfly, as well as a Large White and a Brimstone, most other butterflies were low in numbers. a Cream Spotted Tiger Moth posed very nicely and there were lots of Speckled Yellow moths and several Broad-bodied Chasers around.
Bird wise there were one or two Buzzards and a Red Kite overhead, two singing Nightingales, one or two signing Garden Warblers, Blackcaps and a very fine pair of Treecreepers. a Beautiful Demoiselle was seen on the way back to the carpark two and a half hours after we arrived.
After refreshment we drove to nearby Malling Down where Sheryl had difficulty getting to the top of the steep hill however many Common Blues and Cinnabar Moths were nice. At the top and then on the south facing hill there were many many Adonis Blues, most though we past their best. As it was hot and sunny most were blatting all over the place and took a lot of time before I got any pics but a great place. Also seen were Wall Brown, Green Hairstreak, Small Copper, Small Heath and a Large White.
At around 1pm headed home to avoid the bulk of the traffic; a great day out.
3rd June An after work visit to Starvelarks wood at Little Haven EWT only produced 23 Heath Fritillaries, most right next to the path. Similarly Belfairs/Dodds Grove only had six Heath Fritillaries. It seems that most butterflies this year are a week or so later than last year.