Romney Salts - warm, dry and sunny, SW 3 - For this morning`s Ted walk we went south out of town across the arable lands towards Belgar Farm, across to Lade north before returning home via the dung heap track and along Church Lane. One of the determining factors of the hike was that it covered the area where yesterdays Black Stork was last seen, of which there was no sign. However, we did have a five minute view of the juvenile Pallid Harrier quartering the field margins near the golf course before it disappeared towards Lydd. That said there was little else to see apart from a scattering of Skylarks, Meadow Pipits and Linnets and even fewer Reed Buntings and Yellowhammers. Game cover near the speedway track attracted 20 Goldfinches and 50 Linnets while a Yellow Wagtail flew over heading south, which will probably be my last of the year. Kestrel, Common Buzzard and Marsh Harrier were also noted along the way.
This summer has been one of the best I can remember for Red Admirals; they have simply been everywhere, often in large numbers, and today was no different. I counted around 50 butterflies feeding on ivy flowers in the lee of a sheltered hedgerow along Church Lane around midday and many others fluttering over the fields, along with a dozen or so Migrant Hawker dragonflies. The Red Admiral is a partial migrant and we often see them returning south over the waves when seawatching at Dungeness, a seemingly incongruous undertaking for such a fragile creature.
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