Squall

A squall hit me as I was doing the perambulation of west Kingsdown. It could be seen approaching but there's little cover apart from a few hawthorn bushes, so I got wet.

But not as wet as this bloke, a kite-surfer who was presumably also hit by the squall, and spent time sitting in the water until the lifeboat arrived from Deal.
It's an ill wind that blows no luck, however, and as I watched the kite-surfer before the lifeboat came I saw a shearwater fly over him, checking him out perhaps. The bird was dark above and below, which in my book is a Sooty Shearwater (SteveR saw another or the same one at Dungeness today too). It was nice when the sun came out (I was wet through and my walking boots are not, I discovered, waterproof), and by the time I got down to the rifle range the butterflies were sunning themselves.This female Common Blue seemed to have just emerged, having a cockled wing. A couple of weeks ago I watched a programme about butterfly and moth experts, one of whom said that if you place your finger by a butterfly on a cool day, the warmth is attractive to it and it may climb on. Hey, it worked!She stayed for a while and slowly opened her wings......

and when she was ready, she flew.

This young Kittiwake took a long rest on the water by the range, and just beyond were two Mediterranean Gulls.

A thorn between two bells?