Friday 12th July 2019

Phew.

What a life. 10 days away, then back to drive to Lowestoft and back to see Mum on what I knew was going to be a fool's errand.

And so I was able to draw breath, relax a bit and have time to do something before I had to take the car back.

Friday is Jools' early yoga morning, so the alarm goes off at quarter past five, we get up, have coffee before she is out fo the houst at ten past six. And I am alone.

Take a deep breath.

I review shots, write blogs and catch up on radio shows.

I have a shower, and generally begin to fee human again.

Come ten in the morning, I was ready to do something.

On the Kent Butterfly group on FB someone had mentioned the post code for Ham Street Woods reserve, and that there ware a good mix of species. So, that's where I would go.

A gentle drive along the M20 up through Folkestone to Ashford before taking the Brenzett road, turning off after a ten minute blast, into Ham Street, under the railway line, then turn left at the old pill box to the end of the dead end lane.

I find a place to park, see the entrance to the reserve to the right, grab my camera and I am away.

Wow, that's some serious kit you got there, buddy. A dogwalker says.

Yeah, but I don't know how to use it! I'm here to look for butterflies.

And the chap details where to go, where to turn, distances and species to be seen.

I am happy.

So, through the wood, out to the clearing beyond, and butterflies everywhere. Now that it is high summer, Gatekeepers and Ringlets are on the wing, and numerous. I know my butterflies well enough to recognise the colours and flight pattern to tell them apart, not just those two, but most species.

I see something unusual, I think might have been a Camberwell Beauty (Mourning Cloak), but it never settles. Probably well wrong on that, but I was excited.

I see a dragonfly, sitting nice enough on a leaf, so snap that.

And just a bit further along, a White Admiral had landed on the ground and was feeding on some dog poo. I get a shot.

There were hundreds of butterflies about, Peacocks, Red Admirals, Large Whites, Gatekeepers, Ringlets, Meadow Browns, Speckled Woods, Large Skippers. Then something landed near me.

Something purple.

My target.

A Purple Hairstreak.

Something I had not seen before. I get a few shots, some quite close.

All that was left was to get shots of a Silver Washed Fritillary and I would have the full set from there.

That I get at the end of the gallop, where a single Fritiallary was feeding on some bramble blossom.

I get some shots, not great, but in the warm midday sun, the best I was going to get.

And happy with that, I walk back.

Shots captured.

I drive back to Hythe along narrow country lanes, refuel the car at the motorway services, then back home for a couple of hours to review the shots taken, and to make a load of stuffed focaccia to go with the caprese for dinner.

I drop the car off, and Jools picks me up at four, the weekend had arrived.

We sit in the garden, drinking a coffee and munching on chilli flavoured dark chocolate.

I bake the bread, and with the added time I gave it to rise, I baked a monster, but was too tasty to waste, so we eat it all, me with some wine, before retiring to the sofa to watch double Monty.

And another day done.

And home.