Thursday 16th July

A great day for butterflies with 6x White Admirals, 20+ Peacocks and a flush of newly-emerged Painted Ladies around the rides in Barming Wood. A total of 10 species of butterflies were seen in a 30 minute ride at lunchtime. A pair of Bullfinches and a Little Owl added avian interest.

This evening the Spotted Flycatcher did acrobatics from the TV aerial as I enjoyed an al fresco dinner in my garden in South Street, Barming and a pristine female Southern Hawker found its way into my lean-to ahead of the approaching thunderstorm.

Wednesday 15th July

Saw this perky little fellow on a fence post as I cycled up to my strawberry plots - stumped me as I'm not quite sure what it is? Juvenile Whitethroat or Blackcap???

Monday 13th July

Good numbers of butterflies on the wing in Barming Woods at lunchtime with 3x White Admiral, 6x Peacock and a Red Admiral sipping up nectar from the racemes of the newly opened Buddelia flowers.

At home in South Street, Barming this evening I was pleased to see the Spotted Flycatcher in action again, looping around the speckled shade of the trees at the back of the garden. Every garden should have one, those neglected nooks, shaded by big trees, that become the dumping ground for old wood, general refuse and compost heaps have got to be some of the 'nature reserves' in the country!

A Goldcrest made a long awaited return, flitting furtively around the branches of the same trees.

Friday 10th July

A busy day at work, so no butterflies or hirundines today. Back home and refreshed by a beer I wandered around the garden contemplating what a lot of work needed to be done! A gull call made me look up, adult Med Gull flapping overhead heading NW - well that was nice, and unexpected! They seem to be everywhere in NW Kent at the moment, breeding like buggery on those unhabitated islands in the Medway/Thames estuary no doubt. Watching the gull fly away the Starlings and Collared Doves on the chimneys and TV aerials caught my eye, this how birding used to be in surburban Birmingham! No Med Gulls up there or Hawfinches on the tiles at Christmas! Then I heard a thin, high-pitched 'tsee' - occasionally Pied Wagtails run the ridge tiles, but this was different. Scanning the roof I was delighted, no, well-chuffed to see the head and thin bill of a Spotted Flycatcher poking over the roof (just right of the chimney - blends in well eh!).

I'd been searching out one of these fantastic little birds for the last 2 months and drew a blank at all the usual haunts. This bird had come to me, an added bonus to my 'ridge tile' and 'garden' list (though still savouring the pair of Black Redstart that head my 'work ridge tile' list!). It performed wonderfully, sallying from roof to branch to fence to runner bean pole over and over again. Overhead a group Swifts and House Martins efficiently cleaned up what the flycatcher had missed.

Thursday 9th July

The swarming hirundines I saw yesterday (strawberry fields, E of East Malling Research buildings) were joined by a migration of Sand Martins, my first ever on site. They formed quite a feeding frenzy above the mustard plants, with Swallows, Swifts, House and Sand Martins blending together, picking off any aphid that dared fly! A Skylark attempted an ascend into the middle of this melay but his song was no more than background music against the screams and cat -calls of the hirundines and Swifts.

On the way back to the office I glimpsed a Blackcap flycatch from an apple tree. I stopped and noticed two newly-fledged birds sitting tightly on an exposed branch, waiting for the next offering.

Wednesday 8th July

Well couldn't resist it any longer - back to blogging. More time on my hands this month so here we go:

A mixed swarm of Swallows, Swifts and House Martins, about a dozen of each, swept over a mustard field next to the strawberry fields (east side of East Malling Research). Often they wandered, speckling the strawberry with their fast-moving shadows but when the cloud rolled over then they disappeared as quickly as they'd come.

Into Barming Woods at lunchtime, White Admiral my quarry and I wasn't disappointed. Only a single this time, quite worn but very approachable. A couple of freshly emerged Gatekeepers, my first for this site this year, bounded along ahead of my bike.