In Clover

At last the sun comes out with a vengeance, and I enjoyed the warmth with a long wander around Dungeness mostly looking at my feet but occasionally peering into the sky. OK and often lying procumbent trying to get an arty piccie. [Note is procumbent a word? Blogger doesn't like it. But yes, "Botany: Trailing along the ground but not rooting" So that was what I was doing]

Some of the subjects were old friends like Sheep's-bit and Red Hemp-Nettle,
while others were new finds, like Rough Clover found at Romney,
a charming little plant but sadly without its Subterranean and Suffocated cousins.
Hares'foot Clover was frequent but Strawberry Clover was a great find.
Other Dunge botanical rarities include Knotted Pearlwort, found easily by the ARC pit,
and Jersey Cudweed for which I was well prepared from this paper which reports that the population has grown to thousands. That's as maybe but they were all keeping their heads down today.
The standing water provided a cool relief from the hot sun, but my ID skills of this habitat are close to nil so I just had to enjoy it. Whirligigs were entertaining, while Whitethroats and Willow Warblers called from the surrounding scrub.

I did do some birding (having lugged the unseasonal 'scope around the reserve it would have been foolish not to), and the highlights were a pair of Common Terns bringing fish to a youngster on a raft,
a brief appearance by the Great White Egret, and close views of a male Ruff shedding its breeding plumage from the visitor centre. A Pectoral Sandpiper from the Hanson Hide was a no-show.

Other niceties from the week......

Five Deadly Nightshade plants on St Margaret's cliffs.

Pale flax

Sea Heath beneath Shakespeare Cliff

and a few Chalkhill Blues near the Pines Gardens. Lovely jubbly!