Yippee: the 2016 Butterfly Season should soon be underway

Not long now and the new Butterfly Season should be underway and Wow, we have already seen a Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly (late-January) and a Speckled Wood Butterfly (early-March). Yippee ...

We spent the vast majority of our Butterfly Watching Activity during 2015 within the boundaries of the LB of Bexley; favourite sites being the Crossness Nature Reserve and surrounding area, the East Wickham Open Space, Foots Cray Meadows, the Holly Hill Open Space and beside the Upper Bedon Stream.

We do also occasionally cross onto nearby Bostall Heath in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, on single occasions into Scadbury Park and Petts Wood Woods in the neighbouring LB of Bromley and once into the Kent section of Joyden's Wood (the Wood lying part within the LB of Bexley and part within the County of Kent).

We identified twenty-seven Butterfly' Species during 2015 *; all seen in the LB of Bexley with the exception of two Silver-Washed Fritillary Butterflies seen in the Kent section of Joyden's Wood.

Butterfly' Species seen during 2015:

Brimstone viz.

Brown Argus viz.

Comma viz.

Common Blue viz.

Clouded Yellow viz.

Essex Skipper viz.

Gatekeeper viz.

Green Hairstreak viz.

Green-Veined White (including the first individual reported during 2015 to Butterfly Conservation, seen by us beside the Thames Path in the Crossness Nature Reserve area) viz.

Holly Blue viz.

Large Skipper viz.

Large White viz.

Marbled White (a single individual seen in the Holly Hill Open Space) viz.

Meadow Brown viz.

 Orange Tip viz.

Painted Lady viz.

Peacock viz.

Purple Hairstreak (a poor picture alas but the best we could manage) viz.

Red Admiral viz.

Ringlet viz.

Silver-Washed Fritillary viz.

Small Copper viz.

Small Skipper viz.

Small Tortoiseshell viz.

Small White viz.

Speckled Wood viz.

White-Letter Hairstreak (a single individual seen in Foots Cray Meadows) viz.

Although, as previously mentioned, we spent the vast majority of our Butterfly Watching Activity during 2015 within the boundaries of the LB of Bexley, knees permitting, we are planning a few outings outside the Borough this year.

Proposed destinations (to look for Wild Flowers in addition to Butterflies) include:

Chislehurst Common (LB of Bromley)

Dartford Heath (Kent)

Downe Bank (LB of Bromley)

Fackenden Down (Kent)

Farningham Woods (Kent)

High Elms Country Park (LB of Bromley)

Hutchinson's Bank (LB of Croydon)

Jubilee Park (LB of Bromley)

Kemsing Down (Kent)

Keston Common (LB of Bromley)

Lullingstone Country Park (Kent)

Petts Wood Woods (LB of Bromley)

Queendown Warren (Kent)

Ranscombe Farm (Kent)

Scadbury Park (LB of Bromley)

Springhead Hill (East Sussex) with Butterfly Conservation

The Warren (LB of Bromley)

White Hill (Kent)

Specific targets for 2016 in the LB of Bexley are Marbled White, Silver-Washed Fritillary, Small Heath and White Admiral.

* Our so-called 'Life List' stands at thirty-one Butterfly' Species viz. the Species mentioned above plus Chalkhill Blue, Dark Green Fritillary, Small Heath and White Admiral (none seen in the LB of Bexley).

And we are hoping to add to this List this year with Species including Dingy Skipper, Duke of Burgundy (during our Butterfly Conservation' sponsored visit to Springhead Hill), Glanville Fritillary (re-introduced recently at Hutchinson's Bank), Grizzled Skipper and Small Blue. None of which alas are seen locally in the LB of Bexley. Yet!

Will Spring soon be Springing?

Is there a change in the air or is it our imagination?

Probably our imagination but hopefully, God Willing, Spring cannot be too far away now.

In the Grounds of St John the Baptist, Erith, this morning, we saw that the Snowdrops are still hanging on and that lots of Primroses are flowering now.

There was also an Early Dog-Violet in flower and we were super-pleased to see some assumed Spanish Bluebells, both in flower and preparing to flower viz.

Initially doubtless planted but now growing wild and untended.

We were also pleased to see that the nearby mass of Three-Cornered Garlick/Leek will probably soon be flowering.

The Black Redstart that spent two plus months beside the Thames off Corinthian Manorway seems to have upped sticks.  No sign of her/him either on Tuesday or today.

On the Rough Ground beside Norman Road North we noticed that the single Lungwort is still in flower.

Other flowering Plants included:

Common Field-Speedwell viz.

Grape Hyacinth viz.

Lesser Celandine viz.

Primrose viz.

Red Dead-Nettle viz.

(super-pleased to see fresh looking) Spotted Medick viz.

Stinking Hellebore (on the Kent Rare Plant Register) viz.

Sweet Violet viz.

------------------------------------------------------

We also took a quick turn around the Norman Road Field on the Erith Marshes, where we spotted large parties of both Goldfinches and Linnets.

Also a Meadow Pipit viz.

and a Stonechat viz.

Surprised and Super-Pleased to see a couple of Siskins on the 'Patch'

We had not expected to see Siskins on the 'Patch' although we had vague hopes of seeing one or more pass through the Grounds of the Church of St John the Baptist.

But certainly not beside the River.  However, whilst looking for the Black Restart in the lone Alder and surrounding Trees that grow close to the River we spotted a Siskin (not a wonderful picture alas) viz.

And shortly afterwards, a companion appeared!

Wow; and Yippee ...

The sighting took us up to fifty-six Bird' Species for the year; just four short of our revised target of sixty (up from fifty) Bird' Species for the year.

Hopefully the four short won't be four too many although we think it will probably be a close run thing.

Of White Ramping-Fumitory

We first spotted some Plants flowering during early-September 2015 beside the Thames Path under the shadow of the Waste Incinerator (Grid Reference TQ 49581 80758 or thereabouts) viz.

They were subsequently very kindly identified for us as White Ramping-Fumitory (we had previously wondered if they might be Common Ramping-Fumitory) viz.

Subsequent to our first seeing them when they flowered very prettily, the Council Strimmers razed them and almost everything else to the ground (pretty much par for the course here); however they managed to grow back again.

The sighting was reported to the Kent Botanical Recording Group (KBRG).

According to the KBRG's Publication, Kent Botany 2015, although White Ramping-Fumitory (Fumaria capreolata) is mainly found in Vice County 15 (East Kent), there were at least two  sightings of the Plant during 2015 in Vice County 16 (West Kent).  Ours and the other sighting which involved a Plant growing by a Bridge over the M25 Motorway in the Strood area.

-----------------------

Update: during a Walk earlier today, much to our surprise and delight, especially with it being Dreary and Chilly (a really Cold Wind), we found some lovely fresh looking flowers viz.

Yippee ...

Wow: the Black Redstart has been hanging around for at least Two Months now

We first spotted a Black Redstart on 12 December 2015 beside the Thames in the Erith area off Corinthian Manorway viz.

And Wow; on 12 February 2016 the Bird was still present viz.

Not the best of pictures alas but the Bird is just about visible.

Of Stinking Hellebore

Stinking Hellebore (Helleborus foetidus) is on the Rare Plant Register for Kent *.

Our luck was in when we found this Plant flowering on the Rough Ground beside Norman Road North (Grid Reference TQ49581 80758) viz.

We had seen the Plant before but it wasn't flowering and were uncertain as to its identity which has now kindly been confirmed via Twitter.

The sighting has been reported to the Kent Botanical Recording Group.

* The London Borough of Bexley is included within Vice-County 16, West Kent, for recording purposes.