The Lees at St Margaret's

The cliff top running from the Bluebirds Tea Rooms towards the Bay consists of a beautiful wildflower meadow, with some scrub and bushes. At the moment the dominant smell comes from the wild Marjoram is that is common on chalky areas.

Wild marjoram, Origanum vulgare, is the oregano used in cooking, and on warm still days its distinctive peppery scent carries a long way. It is very attractive to several butterfly and bee species.

There were quite a lot of butterflies around including a few common blues. The female above shows just a hint of blue coloration, without which it would look very similar to the Brown Argus.

Update I've looked at this again with Phil Chantler. The size of the top two orange spots and the wide white border probably means that my original thought of Brown Argos was right and the hint of blue is illusionary.

The Chalkhill Blue above is a bit of a strange specimen, being the colour of a male but having the pattern of a female.

As I was walking along the Lees the RAF rescue helicopter came by just above cliff height. I flew across the Bay and appeared to hover around for a while not far from the lighthouse. I don't know if it was on emergency business though.

Other Wildlife. A Reed Warbler was chuntering away (singing in a quiet sub-song way) in a scrubby area just below the Monument car park, presumably an early migrant, and there was a small trickle of Swallow going south. A Black Kite was reported from Whitfield at 2.15 pm, but if it came over me I did see it!

This small moth, wingspan 20mm was new to the garden. It goes by the name of Pemplia formosa, and although it's an insignificant beast I think it's eye-catching when magnified.

Walk to Bockhill- two Insects, two Houses

There's been a Migrant Hawker Dragonfly, Aeshna mixta, around my garden for a couple of days, but it's not settled for a picture, this one at Bockhill Farm was more obliging.

I've been waiting for the late summer influx of Commas but today's was the first and a bit of a disappointment. When fresh they can have a rich velvety texture and are very attractive, but this one seems a bit worn. It does show the unique ragged edge shape and, in the right hand picture, the comma on the under side that gives it its name.
On my way back I stopped to admire the two houses in Sea Street, just before the Droveway. The first is Smalldown, recently renovated and looking very much a traditional Kentish house.

The second is Queen Anne's Thimble an attractive house with an intriguing name. If you know its derivation please let me know.

Other Wildlife. I got confirmation that this Emerald is a Sussex Emerald, told from Common Emerald by two points on the hind wing. The only known Kent population is at Dungeness, so whether this is a migrant from France or one from up the coast is a guess. It is the second one I've caught here, the one last year was on July 12th. A Hummingbird Hawkmoth is still nectaring on the Red Valerian in the garden, there's been one everyday since June 8th.

A small flock of Linnets was feeding on the big field near the cliff top at Bockhill and a Sandwich Tern called loudly as it passed.

I got the Blues today

Having failed to see any of the blue butterflies during the past couple of days, despite spending a lot of time in what I thought was the right habitat, well it was last year, I was pointed in the right direction by Jack Chantler. I'd been within a couple of hundred yards of a colony of Chalkhill Blues yesterday, without knowing it, so it was get fit time again and a walk down to the lower foot path below the NT car park at Langdon.

The males were plentiful. this one was almost at the top of the path, just 20 yards from the car park.

Further down there were dozens of these beautiful powder blue butterflies. They are quite variable in pattern, some paler and some brighter, but always unmistakable. They are very showy and sit around mostly with their wings open, but sometimes showing the spotty underside.

The females, above, are quite different. They are much more difficult so see, and often settle low in the grass, half hidden. Even allowing for this they were much less numerous than the males, but I can't think of any reason for this.

The underside is duller than the males and they often tuck themselves away and become quite inconspicuous.

I did see one Common Blue, above, it is smaller than the Chalkhill Blues. Unlike the Chalkhill Blue the common Blue has two broods and this is one of the early second brood adults.

On this male Chalkhill Blue you can see the very "furry" body.

Other Wildlife Birds were very quiet, with no sign of any real movements. A Willow Warbler was calling from the scrub by the car park and there was a reasonable flock of Linnets, about 60 feeding on one of the ploughed fields.

The Black Watch and a pleasant ride.

A bike ride along the cliff top path from the Light House to the White Cliffs N.T. car park made good use of the second consecutive summers day. One of my favourite flowers is Field Scabious Knautia arvensis, not only is it beautiful in its own right, but it is also very attractive to butterflies.

This is one of my favourite pictures of a Marbled White on a Scabious flower.

From the car park the cruise ship Black Watch came into view, docked at Dover. This is the ship that has been in the news this week because of a health scare. At least six elderly Britons have been admitted to hospital in Sweden after showing symptoms of Legionnaires' disease while on a cruise and it has returned to Dover two days early. It would seem that the ship is probably OK and the disease was picked up while passengers were on shore but a massive clean up is taking place before the Black Watch sails again.

Later I had to go to Dover and I took a closer look. This is the business or pointed end some times called the bow. I'm always surprised how many names ships have. It was built in 1972 and spent most of its life as the Royal Viking Star. In 1992 it was acquired by Norwegian Cruise Line and renamed the Westward, and in 1994 became the Star Odyssey and spent two years as a member of the now-defunct Royal Cruise Line. Acquired in 1996 by Norway-based Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, it was renamed the Black Watch after a Scottish Regiment.

Other Wildlife I saw my first Clouded Yellow of the year near the Lighthouse. Birds were quiet but a Yellowhammer was singing at Fan Bay and there were two or three Common Whitethroat families in the scrub along the path.

Today actually seemed like a late July day and a walk along the cliffs in the sunshine was full of wildflowers, butterflies and bugs.

One of the smaller, and prettiest of the brown butterflies, is the Gate Keeper. This is the female, when I was young we knew this species as the Hedge Brown, but this name seems to have been superseded now.

The male has a slightly different pattern on its upperside. Both were flying with Meadow Browns, which they interact with chasing around before settling back down, often amongst the grass and hence difficult to see.

Wild Carrot looks as if it has a lacy top and it seem to attract quite a lot of insect life.

This small beetle is Oedemera nobilis. Only the male has the swollen legs.

One of the challenges is to identify the "small skippers". Both Small Skipper and Essex Skipper occur in similar habitats and are very similar. The Small skipper has pale tips on the underside of the antennae, while the Essex Skippers' are all dark. Not an easy field mark to see.

I think that the antennae on this one are all dark making it an Essex Skipper. If I'm wrong on any of my identifications, I apologise, but if you spot any errors please lease me a comment.

Other Wildlife. As I was crawling about photographing Skippers I heard both Whimbrel and Ring Plover calling. They were probably below the top of the cliff, but a sure sign that Autumn is approaching! The gulls beyond hope points kicked up a fuss for a while, but I couldn't see the reason, however as I walked down I met a knowedgeable walker from Deal who told me he'd seen the gulls mobbing a Buzzard.

Five Blots on the Landscape

This is not a representation of the site but does show the dominating size!

Did you know that there is a plan to ruin the view from St Margaret's? There is a proposal to site five wind turbines on the block of countryside between East and West Langdon and Pineham. These are enormous towers, 119 metres high, which is far higher than Big Ben and nearly as high as the London Eye. First, let me say that I am not a NIMBY person. Second, I am extremely concerned with what is happening to the global climate and mans' part in it. The problem is we are all being conned by the Government and big business, out to make a profit from the disaster that awaits us. This will not be a solution, it is the wrong answer to the real question. Wind farms are portrayed as the green salvation, they're not. When a balance is done on the energy used to make them, maintain them and then to decommission them (they last only 20-25 years) and taking into account that, so far, few have run for much more than 32% of the optimum time, they are a failure. You don't have to take what I say as definitive, these are quotes from people far more knowledgeable than me about wind farm projects:

Prof. David Bellamy (President Wildlife Trusts, broadcaster and environmental campaigner).

"Like many other people I now regard wind turbines as silver satanic mills. They ruin the beauty and tranquility of unspoilt landscapes and biodiverse habitats. Wind farms don't work - they ruin peoples' lives, destroy the countryside and harm wildlife. Wind farms are weapons of mass destruction".

Prof.Philip Stott (Emeritus Professor of Biogeography, University of London).
"Why are we considering for a moment the desecration of our historic landscape and countryside by these wind turbines? ...for a project that will have no predictable effect on climate".

Philip Merricks MBE

"When will taxpayers wake up to the realisation that they are funding developers to destroy UK landscape and wildlife".

John Kelly FIEE
"It is time this whole charade was recognised for what it is - the greatest scam since the South Sea Bubble".

Just to make things worse the local Parish Councils were left out of the consultative round by a forgetful Dover District Council. It's not too late though. There is still time to write to them and let them know that you object to the fact that the local parish councils weren't consulted (if you do) and ask for more time to be allotted. A personal delivery of the letter to the council would ensure it didn't get lost.

It seems that more Britons are going abroad for holidays this years, to get away from our dreadful summer. In St Margaret's we still seem to get our fair share of continental visitors and this evening in the Monument car park there were six camper vans settling down for a nights rest. As they all had German registrations, and considering where we were, I had to make a conscious effort to avoid a Faulty Towers moment as I said good evening to one family.

Of course, just like these two ponies in the paddock, mutal cooperation, you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours, is the ethos of 21st century Europe.

Over the other side of the Bay, at South Foreland Valley I watched the sun go down, as I looked over Wanstone Farm. These Thistles, Nettles and Hedge Parsley were nicely highlighted by the setting sun.

Across the valley the sun had just dropped behind Westcliffe and Wallet's Court.