Wildlife

James Lowen

My mood having dipped considerably as a result of this embarrassing episode, I consoled myself by attempting to 'clean up' on the quartet of Emerald Damselflies. Heading to Marshside, I quickly found a single Willow Emerald Damselfly, another recent colonist. By now, my camera had died and thus I resorted to my iPhone to capture the moment.

With the heat still above 30 degrees, my stamina was wearing, so I made just one call before calling it a day. At a nearby site I located four male Red-veined Darter, but could not track down the Lesser Emperor or Southern Emerald Damselfly that Marc Heath has found over preceeding weeks. The lake was absolutely humming with Odonata: I genuinely believe I have never seen anything like it anywhere. I find it hard to imagine a better site for dragons in Kent. Thousands of blue damsels were copulating and ovipositing, hundreds of Black-tailed Skimmers were patrolling, with scores of Emperors hawking the skies. Small Red-eyed Damselflies were common on one area, and Common Darters were out in numbers. An amazing place.

But what about the 'titbears'? Many moons ago, my wife rang a bird news information telephone line while I was driving. I asked her to read out the news as she heard it. At one point she said '...also a bearded titbear'. What??? A new mammal for science???


Quickly, we realised that the message was actually '... also a Bearded Tit there'. But the temporary, alternative moniker has stuck through the subsequent decade. Whenever we see a Bearded Tit or Bearded Reedling, we refer to it as a 'Titbear'. This week, I encountered this delightful bird both at Radipole Lake and Oare Marshes. Titbears never fail to enthrall. The same can be said for Tigers - if not (yet) Torts. There's always tomorrow...

News that the summer-plumaged adult Bonaparte's Gull was still at Oare Marshes saw me move east. The gull was easily located on the foreshore. Very smart - but a bit too distant for the camera. Around 50 Whimbrel were knocking around, plus hundreds of Black-tailed

Godwit and Avocet. Then all hell broke loose. Joined by west Kent naturalist Terry Laws, we had repeated flight views of what appeared to be a very large orange butterfly zooming around over the reeds, but never pausing. It was larger than a Peacock and burnt-orange. We could only think it was a Scarce or Large Tortoiseshell! Lightning strikes twice? I bit the bullet and put the news out as a 'probable Scarce'. Over the next hour we had occasional views... but also harboured occasional doubts. Why did it suddenley dive into reedbeds? Why did it never go anywhere near flowers? Why did it seem a little chunky? The explanation came courtesy of a local... who reidentified it as an Oak Eggar.  We kicked ourselves having not even considered that our 'butterfly' might be a day-flying moth. What fools. Chastened and better informed, we recalled the news, cheeking burning. Live and learn?

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19 July 2014 Tigers, torts and titbears

What's with the blogpost title? Have I been to India? Or to a Land of Makebelieve? Of course not. The tigers in the blog title are moths. The torts are not tortoises but tortoiseshells. As for the titbears... all things come to those who wait. In the past few days I have enjoyed a trio of tiger moths. Jersey Tigers are now well-established in south-east London, and I have caught a couple this week and seen a couple by day elsewhere. At Radipole Lake in Dorset, a post-meeting wander resulted in a sumptuous Garden Tiger along a quiet path. And then near Reculver in Kent, I bumped into a Cream-spot Tiger. Here is a Blackheath Tiger, this one taken last year.

The torts/tortoiseshells - thus far at least - are a rather less happy story. The past week has seen an invasion of Scarce or Yellow-legged Tortoisehell into Britain. There has been just one previous UK record (60 years ago), but perhaps a dozen individuals already this week - the by-product of a mass movement through Scandinavia and the Low Countries. So far, only a couple have proved even vaguely twitchable, and I wasn't in the game for those. I thus resolved to find my own. A day trawling buddleia in south London playgrounds - with daughter in tow - proved unproductive. Yesterday I tried Cliffe Pools in Kent, enticed by the morass of flowering Buddleia. Success! And failure!

I had very brief views, perched on the ground by a puddle then in a clump of nettles, of what was either a Scarce or Large Tortoiseshell before it powered west into the heat. Clearly, given flight periods and invasion, the former is far more likely - but I failed to 'nail' the identification. I could neither see the legs with certainty (so no confirming that they were yellow) nor confirm the shape of the black spot on the upper hindwing. Checking buddleia thoroughly failed to relocate this orange monster. So near yet so far. While at Cliffe, I had a quick look for speciality dragonflies. I found four South Emerald Damselflies; Cliffe is the standout site for this recent colonist. A score of Scarce Emerald Damselflies included a mating pair. Ruddy Darters were everywhere, hyperactive in the heat.