Garden Inhabitants, Dog Walks and Oare Marshes

While the sun has been shining, I have been inundated with opportunities for taking photos! Especially of little insects which love the warm (usually unheard of) conditions this summer!

On the 1st day of August it was my Auntie's Birthday. I took a few hoverfly pics in the morning, then we went for a scrummy lunch in Canterbury in the searing heat. Then a late evening dog walk to avoid the intense heat. He thought he would pretend to be a pig and wallow in one of the only puddles around to cool off. He full on rolled in it. Yucky stagnant watery sludge. How delightful. Nose to tail smothered in vile smelling mud and boy did he pleased with himself. Not so smug when we had to wash him when we returned. Mum and I resorted to tipping bowlfuls of water over him out the front of the house.

Episyrphus balteatus commonly found in gardens and here seems to be enjoying our lovely Tansy plant (Tanacetum vulgare)

Is that a grin on your face young Bracken?!

On the 2nd day of August mum went to water the plants. It was early morning and this moth made a wise choice clinging to the wall. CT am I right in thinking this is a silver Y?? I also had one on my bedroom wall last night so they must be quite prevalent around here! You will also be pleased to know that on Sunday night I saved a huge moth from the horrible fly fryer in the pub kitchen. While my boss stood waiting for me to leave so he could lock the doors, I was jumping around trying to gently catch the moth in my hands to release it outside. Not sure what it was, but guessing it was some kind of hawk moth!

Silver Y

Buddleia in the morning sunlight

The individual flowers of the agapanthus are almost all out now. I thought it looked pretty with the highlighted spider spindly web

Worker honey bee (Apis mellifera) on the Tansy plant

Another species of hoverfly - Sphaerophoria scripta

Male house sparrow looking rather inquisitive

In the afternoon of the 2nd we made an impromptu trip to Oare. After first having a drink in the Three Mariners and Lunch in the Castle due to the former being fully booked for lunch, we drove the short distance to the Kent Wildlife Trust reserve and took a wander around. Lots of nice boats and barges which kept my Dad entertained. Lots of bugs and birds which Mum and I enjoyed. All happy!

Not sure of this species...
Edit: Wild carrot (Thank you Brian)

Ruddy darter - male

Hundreds of godwits, a couple of avocets and a scattering of coots

Sea lavender in the foreground. On the other side of the creek is the saxon shore way - a route we walked on the 4th day of August ... separate blog post to follow.

Does anyone have a clue what this red stuff is on the rose leaves? Some sort of parasite or fungi or disease???

Big spider alert.... a funnel weaver which is a member of the Agelenidae family

Agelena labyrinthica

Summer plumage golden plovers, avocets, black headed gulls and a lapwing all on one little island

Thank you to everyone who reads and comments, much appreciated. My next post will have photos of our 5 hour long walk along the saxon shore way and news on recent KWT volunteering :)

And so the catch up continues...

Another post with the opening sentence of... Last week blah blah blah! That was when I started this post, but now it is 2 weeks ago... 

Anyway, 2 Fridays ago we took a drive to my dad's friend's field. Dad had been raving about how wonderful it was so suggested we had a little trip down there. It is a few fields that slope downwards that are over grown with brambles, thistles, many types of grass, various species of vetch and a wonderful array of trees around the border. Dad's friend Nigel is hoping to do something with this land, but we convinced him to leave it be and not to get any kind of huge mower to flatten this area of butterfly heaven. As well as vast numbers of butterflies of several species, other insects such as grasshoppers and.... were seen as well as a bright green legged creature. Here are a few snaps from the day :)

I think this is Rhyssa persuasoria on a common knapweed flower

Araniella cucurbitina which is sometimes known as the cucumber green spider and is one of the orb web/weavers

Meadow grasshopper

Mum amongst the huge thistles!!

Large skipper on common knapweed (Edit: Small skipper)

Common blue

Common blue

Essex skipper??? (Edit: Small skipper)

The agapanthus is gradually opening up...

Last Sunday (now 2 Sundays ago!) we were meant to have lunch at the Hook and Hatchet near Maidstone, but luckily we looked at their website beforehand - they were shut. Instead we took a picnic and sat outside and took Brack too. They have lovely woodland trust walks around there which was our main reason for going.

Small skipper

Same one as above....

A young swallow wing flapping :)

I am now so far behind that I will just post this and get round to posting some August photos soon! Sorry I haven't had a chance to catch up on all those lovely blogs you wonderful readers produce!

Backlog numero 2

So far behind! The last week or so has been filled with the usual dog walks, volunteering, pub work and catching up with friends. All time consuming, but lovely activities (well apart from working at the pub, which is anything but lovely!). Anyway I'm going to cut to the chase, here are some photos from last week and I'll narrate using the caption facility under each photo :)
18th July

What is this?! It resides on a tansy plant which has also been invaded by black fly that are being farmed by ants...

Usually I would try and ID hoverflies but I couldn't see it's pattern from above so I am clueless about this one!

Wild raspberry picking on a sunny afternoon walk. Bracken now stops every time we go past this point, waiting for his mid-walk fruity treat to be picked and fed to him. He has learnt (clever dog) that we have the same plant in the garden and often tries to pick them himself. Mum - not impressed!

Gatekeeper

Comma

His/her white comma mark clearly noticable!

Mad dog back to his usual self :)

Common mallow and poppies against the corn which is just turning and the local village church :)

 19th July

Agapanthus just emerging

Lilies ready to burst forth and bring beautiful sweet scents to our garden!

Last Friday (19th) I thought I'd take mum to Stalisfield where I had been situated for a fair bit of volling for KWT. We stopped off on route along the lovely road which passes through this gorgeous dappled woodland.

 

Fab view across the valley

Not sure of this flower? Anyone any idea?

I had also wanted to go with mum so she could see the broad bodied chasers that we saw near the ponds. We were disappointed that they seemed to have moved on. All was redeemed when we were surprised by a hare, who we had sadly disturbed. I forget how huge they are and how fast they run! Wonderful sight! We also saw a warbler of some description with some juveniles, however they weren't playing ball and I couldn't get a decent look. We also saw a marbled white butterfly which was a treat as the last one I saw was down at dungeness last year or the year before!

Anyway we headed back to the car and briefly hung around the ponds. No luck, then as we were just leaving a male broad bodied chased zoomed our way and perched on a twig in the hedges!! Great!! I didn't get a very good photo though so won't include it.

Nearly caught up now... the next post will be about the wonderful day I had on Sunday and the dragons that I saw on Monday!