Foreign parts (part 2)

The trip started from Manston (thereby substantially reducing our carbon footprint, as we only had to drive a few miles....ahem). That's Pegwell Bay down there.
Just behind the hotel, paths led up into the mountains through olive groves with stunning vegetation on limestone terraces. The variety of plants was lovely, like a chalk downland with nothing able to grow strongly enough to swamp its neighbours - herbs like southernwood, rue, dill, marjoram and thyme mixed with meadow clary, rock rose and bugloss.
Occasionally a different plant would be seen, like this narrow-leaved helleborine.

Lizards were common, sunning themselves on rocks.

There were plenty of butterflies enjoying the heat, and I noticed that they flew faster than here, where it's a bit cooler. The butterfly above looks like a Duke of Burgundy, but it was much larger than those I've seen in the UK - about the size of a comma. Any ideas on this, or indeed on the one below, which I assume is a decorative grizzled skipper? Answer below, courtesy of Dan Hoare of Butterfly Conservation:

These must be Dukes, as there is no other comparable species in Europe, but even from the photos they do seem large! Probably just a bigger continental form, the markings seem pretty standard. I dare say it's a bit commoner there too!

The Skipper is I think Marbled Skipper Carcharodus lavatherae.
The grizzled skipper complex in Europe is really tricky, particularly the closely related ones in the Pyrgus group, but fortunately these Carcharodus species, with the rippled margin on the hindwings, is a bit easier, and your specimen is quite well-marked with large pearly spots (drabber specimens are tougher to id, and some are indistinguishable in the field).

Incidentally, probably the best id book for tackling the intimidating diversity of European butterflies is 'Butterflies of Europe - Identifying Butterflies is Easy' by Tristan Lafranchis
But there are also some good website such as http://www.leps.it/indexjs.htm?SpeciesPages/ArascLevan.htm
and http://www.guypadfield.com/marbledskipper.html

Black-veined white

And yes, there were birds. Italy is not, despite its reputation, a bird-free zone. We woke to a chorus of serins and wrynecks, and is that an orphean warbler with a call that sounds like 'Figaro, Figaro, Figaro'?Crag martins flitted above the lake.....
and a red kite glided over the village while a black kite soared high above.A Sardinian warbler was spotted in the olive trees, and in the evenings a nightjar churred somewhere in the hills.

Foreign parts

One of the joys of foreign travel is discovering things that are different from one's own experience, whether they are new foods, social niceties, traffic signs or even plumbing. When one has an interest in a particular subject (such as the natural world), there is a special pleasure in finding things that are unusual, even though they may be commonplace where they are found.
During a week on the shores of Lake Garda, we found plenty that was new to us, but probably common in its own place. An example is the scarce swallowtail butterfly, which is only 'scarce' in its English name because it hardly ever turns up in Britain.

The normal swallowtail is hardly common in Britain, but is better known to us.
It seems that around every corner on the steep paths into the mountains there were new plants and insects, so there was much thumbing of field guides. A lovely orchid of hot woods is the violet limodore, a saprophyte without chlorophyll.
Sometimes you feel like a plant collector from the past, like Joseph Banks, when a 'new' species can't be found in the guide. I'll call this azzurropompom kingsdownii until I'm told what it is.
And this is a sub-species of house sparrow, passer domesticus italiae, with a brown head instead of the dusty grey cap of British version. Where is the line on the map where grey caps become brown? Presumably along the line of the alps?

There were plenty of birds to be seen on the morning patch-bash, singing and foraging. A pair of long-tailed tits is nesting in my garden, as a reward to us for feeding them suet through the winter. They still come to the fat balls, but then fly off to collect grubs for the youngsters.

The male of the kestrel pair, hovering for food near their nest.

A clan of about 20 crows (can't remember the proper word) giving lie to the old saying about 'if there are lots of crows, they are rooks, but if there is a solitary rook it's a crow'.

Small Copper

And of course, back to the small blue colony, where there was much activity, getting the mating and egg-laying done before the easterly blast arrives later this week.

Small Blues

They're here! The Kingsdown 'Campbells Garage' colony of Small Blues has emerged into a rather chilly wind, and I counted ten of the tiny things flying weakly over the pebbles and vegetation.
Their food plant, kidney vetch, is not particularly prolific on this site, but clearly there is enough to supply their needs.
Also seen on this patch were common blues, small heaths, a small copper and a ragged painted lady, perhaps just flown in from North Africa? It's incredible to think of these long journeys, and for what? Even if they breed, the larvae won't survive the winter. Do they migrate back south again? I think we should be told.
On this patch of land just off the beach, small hardy plants survive, with lichen currently parched to a crisp with the lack of rain.
Silverweed is one such plant. The foliage is often seen but I don't recall noticing the flowers so often.

From the sublime to the ridiculous

We're not habitual visitors of grand houses and their gardens, but we'd heard good things of Great Dixter, just over the border into Sussex. For a start, part of the house is fifteenth century, with sixteenth century improvements swept awayto restore the original features.

The other half of the house was designed by Luytchens to complement the style of the first part.
Furthermore, the gardens have been redesigned in a cottage garden style, higgledy-piggledy, as is our prefered style, rather than formal rose-and dahlia-dominated rigidity. The effect with the old buildings is sublime.
A host of early purple orchids adorn the lawns which at this season have been left to become meadows.

In comparison to the softness of the weald, the cliffs and shingle of our coast are harsh, with plants and animals seeking their niches in a barren landscape.

Sea Kale is coming into flower, white and later than the yellow sea cabbage.
Mouse-eared Hawkweed and Stonecrop work together to keep a root-hold in the shingle.

A wall butterfly waits for the sun.....
..while the first common blue basks in it.

On the cliffs, kittiwakes seem even scarcer than usual, with last year's nests mostly vacant.

A few call from the sea, and just one was spotted on the cliff.

Maybe the graculus family is partly to blame - they have fledged now and will presumably roam far and wide, leaving the other residents in peace.

PS Last year's blog shows that similar concern over the kittiwake numbers was expressed at this season; by late May there were more birds incubating, and fluffy chicks were apparent by late June.

Sublime to the ridiculous? A phrase coined by Tom Paine according to my Dictionary of Quotations (not wiki or google).

May bank holiday postcard

Just a few notes from the bank holiday weekend so far - early purple orchids and cowslips at Great Shuttlesfield Farm.
Fiddleheads of bracken - I gathered a few and cooked them, with good results - tasky and fine texture. There is a thought that they might be carcinogenic, so that might reduce their use as food : Warning - may contain carcinogens.

This huge brute barred my way on a walk. Standing over a metre high, Dexter cattle look ridiculous but do a good job keeping downland cropped.
The first dragonfly of the spring, rejoicing under the name of broad-bodied chaser.

A confiding dunnock

On another trip to Dungeness, we saw what seemed to be an 'event' going on. We left this strangely-occupied group and sat on the beach. Some kind of small brown bird flew past us, which seemed to excite the distant crowd. Funny what people do on bank holiday weekends.