The view above the Darenth near Shoreham is fields of autumnal brown. The small nature reserve of White Hill, slivers of chalk grassland hidden within dense yew Taxus baccata and beech Fagus sylvatica woods and ever-encroaching dogwood Cornus sanguinea and whitebeam Sorbus aria scrub, is brightly lit by the evening light.
View of the Darenth valley in the late evening
White Hill nature reserve
The last butterflies work the final plants to flower; devil’s bit scabious Succisa pratensis and field scabious Knautia arvensis.
Common blue and young green shield beetle
Brown argus
Chalkhill blue on devil’s bit scabious
Common blue walking and egg laying
Bumblebees work the scabious. A milk white crab spider Misumena vatia, hidden on a flower head, hunts visiting insects and snatches then kills with practiced ease. Autumn is arriving and summer is dying.
Crab spider and chalkhill blue
Bumblebee on devil’s beet scabious
Bumblebee bending a devil’s bit scabious flower
Moth species
Small heath
Harebell
