An afternoon at West Blean

I joined in with some chatter on a Kent butterflies group in Facebook last night. Someone commented that the place had gone very quiet and so members contributed photographs and memories from the previous year. I added one from a trip to West Blean, where I had the most wonderful encounter with some rare heath fritillaries.

West Blean is a long drive from home and the trip probably took the best part of 90 minutes. I like to park off the main road and cross over to a driveway that eventually leads to the woods. I would normally follow the tracks until reaching a large triangular clearing, but having had problems with deep mud the year before, I was wary of going that way. Instead, I opted for a much smaller clearing near the entrance, that was popular with others in the group.

Turning off the main track, I quickly discovered that I wasn’t alone. From memory, there was a young couple, an elderly couple and a group of photographers. Later on, we were joined by a wildlife expert giving a guided tour. I took myself off to a quieter spot and watched as the butterflies danced in the sun. Every time the sun disappeared behind a passing cloud, they flew to their favourite hiding spots. This made photography quite difficult, as they were either too active, or tucked out of the way under shrubs and bushes. I was able to get this beautiful blue lacewing though.

The afternoon continued in much the same way and eventually everyone left. The clouds had gone too, but larger parts of the clearing were no longer in direct sunlight, making my life a lot easier. As I walked to a patch of flowering cow wheat (the main food of the heath fritillary), I could see a handful of individuals settled down in the open. Approaching as carefully as possible, I sat down next to the most likely candidate and according to my metadata, I spent the next 35 minutes with this stunning bug.

For some time, he was quite animated, as it became obvious he was sharing his flower with an ant. Eventually, the ant moved on and I carried on taking photographs. If I have half as much luck there this year, I will be very happy indeed.