Ermine Moths in Maidstone & Bee orchids at Queendown Warren Nature Reserve  | - Click on the image above to view gallery
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 Bird Cherry tree covered with Ermine moths We had seen a report on the BBC website about a Bird Cherry in Cobtree Manor Park, Maidstone that was covered in Ermine Moths. As we had to be in Maidstone this day we decided to find out a bit more. While getting ourselves a cuppa from the café we asked the lady behind the counter if she knew where the tree was and she told us if we went around the back we’d soon see it.
The lady explained that in fact it had looked more impressive a few weeks ago, when almost overnight the tree had turned white when it was covered by the silk cocoons of Ermine Moths. She said that it had looked like something out of a Harry Potter film. It really was a curious sight but the moths had not done the tree any permanent harm as, although all the leaves had been eaten by the caterpillars, the tree had now sprung into growth again.
We spent a while looking at the tree and were amazed at just how many of the moths had now hatched out of their cocoons and were crawling around on the tree trunk. If we stood too close to the tree we found we had a few moths crawling on us too. You would have expected that at least some birds would have been eating them or getting some to feed to their youngsters but we hardly saw any at all, just a couple of blackbirds and a chaffinch.  Stinking Iris After we’d had a good look at the Bird Cherry we decided we’d have a walk around the rest of the park. We really were pleasantly surprised at the variety of trees growing there. There were plenty of native trees as well as ornamental ones and all given plenty of room to mature to their full size. We came across a building too and discovered that there was once a zoo in the park. Neither of us had heard of this before and when we read the notice on the side of the old elephant house we realized why. The zoo had actually closed in 1959 but in its heyday drew large numbers of visitors to the park.
One plant I was really pleased to find growing in a patch of native woodland beside the park was a Stinking Iris. I often see the seed pods of these flowers in the winter months as they are bright red and very obvious, but for some reason I had never seen them in flower so it was a bit of a treat to find them. We really enjoyed our walk around the park and thought that it would probably look very impressive in the autumn months too.
I’ve been having a bit of a problem with my favourite everyday lens, my Nikon 18 200, so I’d taken it to someone in West Malling to be repaired. As this was very close to Maidstone I was able to pick the lens up and was keen to go somewhere to see if it was now working properly again. We headed for Queendown Warren, a nature reserve looked after by the Kent Wildlife Trust, and somewhere I felt certain I would find some orchids growing. As it happened we bumped into a photographer friend and as he knew the reserve well he was able to show us the location of some orchids that would make good subjects for photographs. There were some very nice Bee Orchids that were just coming into flower and looked very nice.
 Brown Argus butterfly We had our eldest son James with us too and he helped me to take some pictures of the Bee Orchids by holding the diffuser for me. He also acted as my porter that day carrying one of my lenses: I think I could do with having him with us more often! One treat before we left the reserve was seeing my first Brown Argus butterfly of the year. This tiny butterfly has a wingspan of not much more than 2.5 cms so it’s not the easiest insect to see in the first place. Luckily though this one was obliging enough to sit on a withered Yellow Rattle flower and allowing me to get close enough to take a few pictures. Whenever you get a willing butterfly such as this you have to think fast and get the shots because you can be sure they won’t sit still for long.
Our day had been good so far but as we drove through the village of Stockbury we noticed a Shepherd Neame pub. We couldn’t think of a better way of cooling down after being in the warm meadow so stopped off for a pint of Masterbrew (all except the driver that is, but I didn’t mind offering).
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