Nice sunny cycle to work, what looked like a fleck of dust on top of an oak tree in Oaken Wood transpired to be a distant Purple Hairstreak. Chiffchaff and Blackcap still calling and a couple of Little Owls in their usual location at Kiln Barn Farm.
News of a Lesser Emperor dragonfly or three saw me heading off patch at lunchtime. John Clements was bundled in the car on news of 3x Med Gulls that were strutting and feeding behind his house (a private field on the East Malling Research site).
We arrived in New Hythe to be met by Phil Sharp fresh from a soiree in Suffolk, and Jill and John Brook collecting exuviae - the Lesser Emperors were less apparent, although a Odanata pursuing a Red Admiral butterfly was a 'possible'.
Back in East Malling some butterflies of note flitted across my path; a single Ringlet (first on the research land for me) for me kept a Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral and Peacock company in the afternoon heat. Oaken Wood turned up a Comma and a White Admiral (seen to lay eggs).
Footage of White Admiral to follow.
