Sunday 18th July 2021

You know, through most of the spring and summer I complained that the weather wasn't suite sunny enough, or just too windy and so on. Well, Sunday was hot, damn hot. So hot, that if we were to do anything it had better be early.

How early?

Military early.

And there is no earlier.

The plan, was to go on our sixth hunt for the fabled White Letter Hairstreak down on the ROmney Marsh. That's three visits there last year, one last week and one trip to Greenhythe last year to another site. All drew blanks, though we did see other butterflies, insects and flowers. But the WLH was something of a bugbear. It lives only in elm trees, living off honeydew most of the time, so needs little to come down to ground level to do the usual butterfly things.

We had even thought of setting the alarm for five, but I thought that a bit extreme. So, once up at six, we had coffee and left for the Marsh, once we were dressed, obviously.

Traffic was light, so it was pleasant with Radcliffe and Maconie on the radio, me driving and looking at the wild flowers growing on the road verge and central reservations. I really should just be driving, but, you know.

We turn off at Ashford, then out onto the Marsh to Ham Street and then out to Warehorn, past the pub, over the level crossing and parking up near the canal.

We have a swig of squash, then walk out on the path beside the canal to the railway bridge, and so began the usual hunt, with zero results. I mean most of my friends on FB say they just land on the brambles and can be snapped easy enough there. I use the power of thinking, and concentrate on the patches in the sun. I see many other species of butterfly, and damselflies too, but no Hairstreak.

Jools anticipated this, and brought her yoga mat to lay on and lokk up at the clouds. She lay down near the elm tree.

I carried on hunting.

Are these what you're looking for she asks?

I look to where she is pointing, and two or three grey/blue butterflies are making patterns in the air at the top of the tree.

Looks like them.

I still held hope of seeing them nearer to the ground, so went back to check on the brambles again and again, but always coming back to the tree.

My mistake was to only have the macro lens with me, had I had the big lens, I would have got some good shots, as it was, I got some distanct ones, clear enough to see the underwing markings and the tails on the rear wings.

Happy-ish with that.

As a bonus, one of the damselfies I snapped turned out to be another new species, a Small Red-eyed Damselfly, but being the female of the species, it has brown eyes. But still, happy with that.

It was ten to ten, and getting hot. Warm was missed out and went straight to hot. On its way to roasting.

We ambled back, and I looked up and saw the Turtle Dove that we had been hearing purring for the last two hours. I still had the wrong lens, but I got a shot.

On the way back, we passed a continuous line of traffic heading, we guessed for Camber Sands, it was going to be mad there. We were going in the opposite direction, thankfully.

We took to the motorway, cruised back to Dover, going via Whitfield to check on the orchids around the council offices, all bar one spike of Bee had gone to seed, and that had just one flower left open. There was also a Pyramidal, but we have one of those at home, so I don't take shots. On the roundabout above the A2, there were a good two dozen more Pyramidals, just visible in the undergrowth, benefitting from a lax cutting regime.

Back home for brunch of fruit and yogurt followed by croissants two cups of coffee.

It was too hot to go into the garden, and for me it was time to rest up, elevate my foot to try to bring the swelling down caused by gout.

Someone had foolishly agreed to cook Sunday lunch, which meant it was going to be hot and sweaty in the early evening. But i hoped with all windows and doors open, I might be able to disapate the worse of the heat.

At three, Jools went swimming, and at half four, I began cooking the beef, boiling the potatoes and mixing the batter pudding mix. There was veg too, including our own broad beans from the garden.

I made gravy too with the stock I made a couple of months back, and at half six, with Jen, Sylv, John and Jools hungrily waiting, I carved the meat, dished up, and it was pretty darn perfect. Meat a tad overdone, but acceptable. The rest was great. Better than great.

We sit and talk and laugh after we had eaten, and time slipped by. Before we knew it, it was quarte rpast eight, the washing up had to be done, and our guests wanted to leave. Which meant that we did not sit back down until nine, and it was just about bed time. Though it felt so hot in the house.

As long as I don't get a cat sleeping on the bed.....