Leybourne Lakes 2015

Himalayan Balsam, Impatiens glandulifera.   Leybourne Lakes, 12 July 2015

I led a walk at Leybourne Lakes in mid-July, and went for a look around a week before to be prepared for whatever might be there.  These photos are from that recce.

Leybourne Lakes has been a country park since 2004.  It began as gravel diggings and has been converted to a wildlife and recreational centre.  There is also a good range of water-loving plant life to be found and I took photos of some, but not all, of it.

This first shot is an invasive species, Himalayan or Indian Balsam.  It has colonised just one side of this small stream.  It is sometimes called Touch-me-not, because when its seed pods are ripe they will explode when touched and throw the seeds a good distance.

Yellow Loosestrife, Lysimachia vulgaris.  Leybourne Lakes, 12 July 2015

   Yellow Loosestrife, Lysimachia vulgaris.  Leybourne Lakes, 12 July 2015

Yellow Loosestrife is a good waterside species to find.  There is a similar garden species, Spotted Loosestrife.  As you can see, it grows quite tall and bushy, very unlike its two close relations Yellow Pimpernel and Creeping Jenny, both of which never leave ground level.  The Yellow Pimpernel is a woodland plant, but Creeping Jenny likes it damp, and we found a patch actually growing under some Yellow Loosestrife.  (No photos, sadly.  We found that on the walk, and I don't take my camera when I am leading a walk.)

Totally unrelated to the Yellow Loosestrife is Purple Loosestrife, which grows freely in wet environments in this area.  There are great stands of it at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve.

Purple Loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria.  Leybourne Lakes, 12 July 2015

It's from a different family.  These are not as big and lush as some I have seen, but they are well established.  Here are some closeups of Purple Loosestrife flowers, showing their odd pollination arrangements: Heterostyly.

Marsh Woundwort, Stachys palustris.  Leybourne Lakes, 12 July 2015

This rather weedy specimen is Marsh Woundwort, a close relation of the common Hedge Woundwort.  Hedge Woundwort is said to have an unpleasant smell when their leaves are crushed, but that is very variable, and actually I rather like the smell which at its best is strong, aromatic and rather medicinal in quality.  This marsh species does not have the same smell.

Other water-lovers seen, but not photographed, included Clustered Dock and Water Figwort.

Next time, some plants from Leybourne Lakes which are not particularly water-loving.

Three Clouds

Clouded Magpie, Calospilos sylvata.  Cuckoo Wood, High Elms, 9 July 2015.

Here are some related species of moth seen recently.  The first is a Clouded Magpie, caught at High Elms just long enough to photograph.  It's the first time I have seen one of these, and three of them came to my trap.  I think it's a real beauty.  The caterpillar eats various types of Elm.

Clouded Border, Lomaspilis marginata.  Hayes, 11 July 2015

And this one is a Clouded Border.  I have seen lots of these in the wild, but this is the first to come to my back garden.  The caterpillars eat Poplars and Willows, and there are not many of those nearby.  The basic colouration and pattern of this moth is always the same, so it is instantly recognisable, but the exact size and position of the brown "clouds" is variable.  This one is nicely balanced.

Clouded Silver, Lomographa temerata.  Hayes, 9 July 2015

The Clouded Silver is also around in this season, and is also variable in detail.   This one was in my garden.  Its caterpillar eats  Hawthorns, Blackthorns and other common shrubs.

There are several other "clouded" moths, and other things too, like the Clouded Agaric, a common woodland mushroom.  But not today.

Butterflies By The Sea

Marbled White, Melanargia galathea.  Sandwich Bay, 3 June 2015.

It was windy in the dunes along Sandwich Bay.  Mostly, too windy to get good photos of anything small, because everything was moving.  But there was a sheltered spot with a range of flowering plants, and butterflies were feeding there in abundance.

There were dozens of Marbled Whites.  They are very pretty, and as is often the case, the undersides of their wings are more interesting than the upper surfaces.

Small White, Pieris rapae.  Sandwich Bay, 3 June 2015.

Marbled Whites really belong with the brown butterflies, in the family Nymphalidae. This Small White is a true white butterfly from the Pieridae.

Small Heath, Coenonympha pamphilus.  Sandwich Bay, 3 June 2015.

The Small Heath is quite a furry-looking thing; like the Marbled White, it's of the Nymphalidae.  And there was yet another family represented:

Small Skipper, Thymelicus sylvestris.  Sandwich Bay, 3 June 2015.

The Hesperidae.  There were lots of these Small Skippers flitting around in the grass.  There is a closely related species, the Essex Skipper, which looks just like this except that the undersides of the tips of its antennae are sooty black.  In this photo you can see the exact spot you have to look for to tell the difference.  On this butterfly it's orange.

The Marbled White at the top is feeding from a Creeping Thistle. The Small White is just resting.  The Small Heath is investigating a bramble flower, and the Small Skipper is feeding from a Ragwort.  Those are all popular food sources  Bramble hedges in particular are always good for some insect life.

There were other Lepidoptera present too.  There were many Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnets, which are day-flying moths.

Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet.  Zygaena lonicerae.  Sandwich Bay, 3 June 2015.

You can't tell these from the related (non-narrow-bordered) Five-spot Burnets from a photo, but the population here is known to be Narrow-bordered. 

Although I did not see a mature adult, there were Cinnabar larvae feeding on the Ragwort.

Cinnabar larva, Tyria jacobaeae.  Sandwich Bay, 3 June 2015.

The Cinnabar is another day-flying moth.  These two moths are representatives of two more Lepidopteran families, the Zygaenidae and Erebidae respectively.  So we had a good range on display.

Some Coastal Plants

Sea Holly, Eryngium maritimum.  Sandwich Bay, 4 July 2015.

I visited a friend at the coast recently, and was taken for a walk, where I saw a range of plants I am not at all used to.  Plants that grow in the coastal dunes, or even in the shingle on the beach, are often quite different from the usual inland plants.  They need to be tolerant of salt, and sometimes of dry conditions, because sand and shingle do not retain moisture.

This Sea Holly is well known, and is quite showy even though its flowers blend in with the leaves.  But the star this time was Viper's Bugloss, first seen off to one side over a dune, then in larger numbers right beside the path.

Viper's Bugloss, Echium vulgare.   Sandwich Bay, 4 July 2015.

Viper's Bugloss, Echium vulgare.   Sandwich Bay, 4 July 2015.

The red anthers protruding from that mass of deep blue flowers give a startlingly colourful effect.

In the general coastal area, this occurs quite often:

Sea Bindweed, Convolvulus soldanella.   Sandwich Bay, 4 July 2015.

At first glance it looks like a large Field Bindweed, which I see scattered freely around the countryside where I live, but closer up I could see that the leaves are a different shape and the flower is too consistently large.  It's called the Sea Bindweed.  It was also in my friend's lawn!

Sea Sandwort, Honkenya peploides.   Sandwich Bay, 4 July 2015.

This succulent little thing grows in big healthy mounds right in the shingle at the top of the beach. I had no idea what it was and had to get it identified as Sea Sandwort on the very useful iSpot site.

Also in the shingle is ..

Yellow Horned Poppy, Glaucium flavum.   Sandwich Bay, 4 July 2015.

Yellow Horned Poppy, Glaucium flavum.   Sandwich Bay, 4 July 2015.

this Yellow Horned Poppy.  It's the poppy flower that is yellow, not the horns, so the last two words are sometimes hyphenated as Horned-poppy.   The horns are the seed pods.

The last beach flower I saw before turning inland again was this ...

Silver Ragwort, Senecio cinerea.   Sandwich Bay, 4 July 2015.

Silver Ragwort.  As you can see, it's not actually in the shingle, but in the sand just above it.

Many of these coastal plants are very decorative.  I would have been interested to see them anyway, but I was amazed by what I actually saw.

An Unusual Orchid

Common Spotted Orchid, Dactylorhiza fuchsii, var. rhodochila.  Downe Bank, 27 June 2015.

Dactylorhiza fuchsii, var. rhodochila is a scarce, but widespread, variety of the Common Spotted Orchid.

Common Spotted Orchid, Dactylorhiza fuchsii, var. rhodochila.  Downe Bank, 27 June 2015.

This one was known to grow in the Downe Bank Nature Reserve, and Irene Palmer was kind enough to show me just where, so that I could take a few photos.  The orchid flowers are quite prolific this year and it is not easy to spot this one.

I also took a few photos in Downe village while waiting for Irene (I was there early). 

Wall Rue, Asplenium ruta-muraria.  On the churchyard wall in Downe, 27 June 2015.

Wall Rue is a small fern that is happy on dry stone.  Other ferns, on the wall of the church, have frizzled up, but this plant, on the churchyard wall, is bright green and lush.

Barley, Hordeum vulgare.   Downe churchyard.  Downe, 27 June 2015.

A little bunch of Barley is growing next to the church, perhaps escaped from birdseed.  It's like a giant version of Wall Barley, a common wayside grass, and is from the same genus.

Black Horehound, Ballota nigra.  Downe, 27 June 2015.

Over the road, on a tiny patch of grass with a bench, this is Black Horehound.  The leaves are supposed to smell resinous and unpleasant when crushed.  Sometimes they do have a strong smell, but I like it.  It's similar to the smell of Hedge Woundwort, a related plant which you can also find in hedgerows.

Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui.   Fence on the track down to Downe Bank, 26 June 2015.

Finally, a Painted Lady found on the track down to the nature reserve.  I was pleased to get a good shot of the underwing, which is less familiar than the top view.  This moth is a regular immigrant to the UK, and we are told that there are hordes of them on the continent just waiting for the right weather to come over.  Clearly, some are already here!