Friday 24th August 2007 Newington Thanet
This
Oak Bush Cricket made an appearance in the light of one of my back garden
moth traps overnight – only the second Cricket of the year in the
garden. I did get a Speckled Bush Cricket about a week or two back. (Phil
M)
Thursday 23rd August2007
Garden Minster Thanet
Fed up with
yet another lousy day I looked around my garden for insects, hardly
anything about until I found a couple of Ichneumon wasps
in my greenhouse, I think they are Netalia testacea which
parasitise noctuid moths, I really am scrapping the barrel in this weather.
(Don Wilks)
Tuesday
21st August 2007 Whitehouse field SBBOT
As the sun
suddenly appeared this morning decided to look for some Great
Green Bush Crickets and success, found two females and one male.
The male and one female disappeared into the undergrowth, but one female
posed for me. A few butterflies were seen, five fresh Small Coppers,
a few Common Blues and one Meadow Brown. Plenty of female Common
Darters and two Migrant Hawkers were seen. (Don Wilks)
Sunday 19th August 2007 Broadstairs Thanet
After a shopping trip to Asda's this afternoon, my nephew came rushing
into the house telling me he'd seen a massive Cricket that he thought was
the same specie that I'd taken photos of last year. As this one had been
sitting on the roof of a car in Asda's car park I was ever so slightly
sceptical? I was therefore surprised when seeing the photo he'd taken on
his
mobile phone that it was indeed a male Great Green Bush Cricket.
They are well trained these kids - he'd even identified the damn thing
correctly something not many 13 year olds would be able to do eh? I wasn't
aware of any Thanet colonies of this specie away from Wetherlees and
Minster - though I did hear one last autumn along the Haine road on a bike
ride down to Pegwell Bay. They used to be common along the railway
embankments in Ramsgate but have disappeared in the last decade or so. A
sad loss especially as they are one of the most impressive of all British
insects. I'll have a wander up that way and see if there are any more
about when I feel in the mood. (Phil M with the kind help of Oliver M)
Friday 17th August 2007 Grove Ferry
We called over the Grove Ferry this morning, and
thanks to Norman McCanch who pointed me two the sallow were the 3 Eyed Hawkmoth Caterpillar were feeding. (Gadget & Don Wilks)
Saturday
11th August 2007 Dumpton garden
I observed some very rare behaviour by a juvenile
Blackbird when I watched it beating a Pigmy Shrew, in a
similar manner to a Song Thrush breaking a snail's shell. I am unable to
say whether the Blackbird had caught the shrew alive, thus had killed it,
or just found the corpse in the garden and was aiming to take advantage of
the potential food source. My disturbing the bird meant that it flew off,
leaving the shrew behind. I have checked through the pages of BWP and came
across one similar record of a Blackbird eating a mouse sp.
"apparently". (Dylan)
Saturday
11th August 2007 Temple Ewell/Lydden KT NR
Spent four
hours wandering over this reserve, bright sunny day and no wind for a
change. Still plenty of late Summer flowers with the addition of lots of Autumn
Gentians (Gentianella amarella). Still plenty of
butterflies with Chalkhill blues everywhere, quite a few Silver
spotted skippers, Brown Argus, Small
Tortoishell, Painted lady, Gatekeeper and
two small skippers. Met a chap surveying the Great
Wart- biter who has a licence to catch them and he managed to
find one female for me to photograph. The
whole reserve is a carpet of flowers, scabious, common centaury, thistles,
yellowwort, knapweeds, eyebright, birdsfoot trefoil and many more, well
worth a visit. (Don Wilks)
Friday 10th August 2007 Fowlmead
Country Park
I called over to Fowlmead Country park after lunch
with Don Wilks, this being our fist visit to the park, The viewing
platform gives good views over Wroth Marshes and will be interesting
latter in the autumn, but as far as today goes the only things of note: 5 Painted
Lady’s, 6 Red Admirals, 3 Gate Keepers and 1 Small White
Butterflies, there were a few Flies, Bees & Wasps. the
photograph is of the Bee-killer Wasp (Philanthus triangulum)
(Gadget)
Wednesday 8th August 2007 Dumpton Thanet
I couldn't resist the photo opportunity when this Red
Admiral stop on one of the many flowers in my garden this morning.
(Gadget)
Monday 6th August 2007 Monkton
Nature Reserve
Monday 6th
August While waiting for the Warden to load up my car with his prehistoric
relics to give a talk in Minster. I saw lots of Common Lizards
basking in the sun including many very small young ones from one and a
half to two inches long. (Don
Wilks)
Sunday 5th August 2007
Only
2 Wasp Spiders found but good numbers of Small Red-eyed
Damselflies on the pond in the company of 9 Emperors, Black tailed Skimmers
but could find 2 Brown Hawkers. (Gadget)
Sunday 5th August 2007
Grove Ferry
Martyn Wilson & I wasted the best part of an hour standing around on
the viewing ramp. The Ruby-tail was still patrolling the reed screens and,
on closer inspection, we found there to be a few "Solitary Bees"
using the reed stems as nest sites. I got pics of one, it is an Andrena
sp. (my best guess is Andrena cineraria)
but my knowledge is woefully lacking. The added bonus of our time wasting
tactics was that we also found a Common Lizard - Lacerta
vivipara enjoying the sunshine. Basking on the framework of the
screen on the east side of the ramp. (Dylan)
Saturday
4th August 2007 Grove Ferry
Whilst standing on the viewing ramp, with the
Stour Valley "elite", I noticed a "Ruby-tailed, or
Cuckoo, Wasp" flying around one of the reed screens. I managed to
get a few poor record pics, thus allowing me to id the insect as Chrysis
ignita, the most common UK representative of this parasitic
wasp family. (Dylan)
Wednesday
1st August 2007 Dumpton Thanet
Good number of Butterflies, Hoverflies, Dragonflies
and other Insects around the garden today, Comma, Red Admiral &
Peacock were in double figures with one or two Gatekeeper, Holly
Blue & Small Whites, also 2 Migrant Hawkers were
giving a nice display. (Gadget)
