Friday 19 August 2011

France Day 1 - 08/08

Setting out from home around mid-day on the way to our overnight stop off in Maidstone before going on the train to Calais the next morning, light drizzle hampered the birds seen and the only things of note added between home and the motorway were a single Lapwing and a Buzzard. The rain continued on and off till about Birmingham where Swift and Sparrowhawk were seen but little else of interested was noted at all on the rest of the journey which was slightly disappointing.

Arriving at the Travelodge in Maidstone about 6pm me and my mum set out to Burham Down about 10 minutes away, a chalkhill area where I could have seen Silver Spotted Skipper and Chalkhill Blue butterflies. Unfortunately it was pretty windy and had also clouded over resulting in almost no butterflies at all, in fact 2 Meadow Brown were the only ones seen in half an hour of searching! A Green Woodpecker was a mild consolation as I was heading back to the car but didn't go far to covering the sadness of missing some great butterfly species.

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