With the unseasonal weather over the last week or so some surprises have been on the wing on the reserves. I saw a butterfly flit past me as I was at Cliffe last Wednesday as we removed the skip full of 1.56 tons of plastic from the River Thames foreshore. Even on a brief glimpse, I reckon it was a Wall Brown, which of course is a fairly regular sighting along the sea wall, but a little later in the year. The first one we saw last year was in May on our second plastic clean-up, also seen this week were two Painted Lady and I saw today a beautiful Peacock. Over the past few weeks, several Red Admiral are around, these generally are the almost all year round butterfly.
Ruby told me this morning last Thursday she heard a Chiff-Chaff calling out its' name near the Bromhey Farm Office, I saw a Marmalade Fly this morning, a common species of Hoverfly, so is Spring just around the corner?
In contrast to the butterflies, there are still winter thrushes, Redwing and Fieldfare flocking around the reserves.
The North Kent Marshes are a very special area and worth preserving at all cost.