New colours, and a twitch

I hesitate to say that Autumn is nearly here, but the turning of the seasons brings new sights. The flowering of the Autumn Gentian is one such, and I was delighted to find it in the Goats Field (qv) having seen the description of it flowering there in the Kingsdown Guide.

A similar delicate shade of purple is shown by the Sea Lavender, now appearing on the rifle range and on the cliffs - a beautiful plant.
Butterflies still remain in places sheltered from the worst of the summer weather, with Common Blues among most common, naturally.


The Large and Small Whites are also still around, and I enjoyed watching this green beetle bugging a Small White on its leaf.

Painted Lady on Hemp Agrimony

Birdwatchers (or birders, or robin-strokers) get a bad name for dashing around the country to see new birds, and ticking them off their lists. If, however, an unusual bird happens to be on my route, it seems impolite not to call in to see it. Consequently, I visited Alexandra Park in Hastings today to see a juvenile Night Heron, and found it sitting in a tree.

The reason that it looks so grumpy is that it had (briefly) awoken, as it was preparing for its dusk exertions, by sleeping through the day. It soon resumed its normal pose.

Restharrow Scrape

An early morning visit to Restharrow Scrape on the Sandwich Bay estate brought good views of the resident wildfowl, and a pleasant chat with Ian the warden. There are currently seven Little Grebes, with the two males resplendent in their summer plumage.

Only one of the two young Little Ringed Plovers has survived, the other apparently disappearing at the same time as the mother. The father (above) continues to circle the island and the shores, and the youngster's flight looks strong, encouraging hope that it will survive.

Other birds on the scrape included Mallards, two Little Egrets, a Grey Heron, about a dozen Lapwings, a family of Moorhens and a Greenshank. A couple of Sparrowhawks were seen (and heard) in the Elms.

Goat Field

Between the Scout Camp and the Upper Street, the hill top known as the Goat Field is variously tall scrub and low grassland depending on whether the owner has decided to decimate the growth or not.

In the last twenty years, the scrub has been cut about three times, most recently this spring, so at the moment it is a meadow.

The scrub cutting tends to annoy residents who see it as vandalism against nature, but the variety of plant species that have grown up since the cut is impressively large so I'm in favour of this. Unfortunately, the infrequency of the cut means that there is no consistency, and species that cannot survive the periods of growth do not stay, and so do not return when favourable conditions return.

An area of chalk grassland like this should support blue butterflies and skippers, but in fact only has only the grassland Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers, with margin-feeders like Ringlets and Speckled Woods.

Speckled Wood

Many varieties of plant have emerged, blinking into the sunlight - vetches, marjoram, thistles, scabious and a host of others (i.e. ones I can't identify), as well as a range of garden escapees like buddliea that have spread from rubbish dumped at the margins of the field over the years. There is also an impressive swath of nettles that should provide good food for caterpillars over the autumn.

Bacon and Eggs (or Horseshoe Vetch)

Goatsbeard - appropriately in the so-called Goat Field

Fumitory

Autumn gentian

Milkwort

At last the warm weather has arrived, and ants have taken advantage, swarming into the air to the delight of the circling swifts.

Lydden Down

There is a nature reserve on the east side the the valley betweenTemple Ewell and Lydden, which has been managed for the benefit of chalk downland plants and butterflies. The result is spectacular, as hundreds of Chalkhill Blue butterflies emerge to fly across the down.

An expert was out on the down today, and his report can be seen here.

There are apparently still Chalkhill Blue butterflies in Kingsdown, on the clifftops and possibly on downland elsewhere - I haven't yet seen any, but I'll keep looking!

Post script - one (only) blue butterfly on the rifle range today - a Common Blue.

Knight's Bottom & The Lynch

A path follows the dry valley from Hawkshill to Oxney Bottom, dividing Kingsdown from Ringwould. The northern part is known as Knight's Bottom and the southern part is the Lynch, with a small wood between them known rather grandly as Great Coombe.

Great Coombe has a number of interesting trees including a stand of Yews (above) and a Wych Elm (below).
The east side of the valley was clear of scrub and trees until the 1950s, and presumably was grazed chalk grassland. Now however the stronger varieties have mostly taken over, making the path enclosed and oppressive, and the banks are bare or ivy-covered.

The only remaining piece of grassland (and as far as I'm aware the only piece inland from the golf course and cliffs apart from Hawkshill) is a small side of the Lynch, which still has a good variety of chalk downland plants.

A local told me that during the last war, troops used the chalk bank as a target for shooting practice, so a metal detector could bring up some interesting finds.

The bank catches the sun in the afternoon, and there was a good selection of butterflies, day-flying moths and other insects enjoying it today.

Green-veined white

Large Skipper on Scabious

Large Skipper on Burdock

Hiding under a hedge was a reminder that Autumn is not far away - Lords&Ladies berries.

Borage and terns

Just off the A20 at Hougham there's a field of a spectacular blue crop, or maybe a serious weed problem. Eventually my curiosity got the better of me, and I had to stop to see what it is - and it turned out to be borage.

One mystery therefore gave way to another - why would the farmer want to grow so much of a crop which (while I know it's a medicinal herb, being called officinalis) has no commercial use that I know of.

The net comes to the rescue as always, and it transpires that borage is a high value crop grown to produce starflower oil for health food supplements and skincare products. As it needs plenty of bees to polinate it, special beehives are often brought in to do the work, resulting in an individually-flavoured honey - I'll look out for it!

The leaves taste of cucumber and are used in salads, and can also be a pleasant addition to a jug of Pimms.

On another matter, the coast is resounding to the harsh calls of the Sandwich terns, which are starting to leave their nesting sites (like Rye Harbour) to fish over a wider area. Their 'kerrick's
can be heard surprisingly far inland if the wind is in the right direction. They often provide a marvellous sight off Kingsdown, diving into the sea after fish.

The Glen

The inland road to Walmer and Deal is called the Glen, and although it goes between open fields itself is well wooded. A photograph taken around 1920 shows that it was then completely open (perhaps indicating the recent drop in demand for firewood?)

The paddocks along The Glen currently have a full and varied vegetation, similar to a meadow that I'm surveying for a local landowner. The contrast with grazed grass fields, and especially with monoculture arable fields, is striking.

Toadflax

Eyebright

There are good views from here to the Ripple windmill, recently renovated.
One of the benefits of spending time surveying a meadow is the proximity to the many insects that inhabit it. Today, in addition to the usual Marbled Whites, Meadow Browns, little Skippers and the numerous Gatekeepers, there was a Clouded Yellow, keeping still for a change.