not called adonis for nothing. only started looking at blues this year but once you get your eye in they're obvious - comparing these in flight with common blues is like comparing storm and leachs petrels.

not the best photo but shows the electric blue you get with the right angle to the sun

i've got loads of pics of these. one of my faves, especially the underwings when backlit. i'll get round to creating a flickr account at some point

spotted these random orchid spikes (early purple?) at the base of the cliffs

aquilegia vulgaris

it is possible to see only one common tern in se winds at st caths in the first week of may (and just add 3 zeros for the dungeness count). oddly tho there was a good passage of waders - barwit, grey plover, knot, turnstone - which wasn't picked up anywhere else along the south coast. in return didn't get any of the other sites' poms.

a few bits past st caths in a strong easterly inc 4 roseates, red-necked grebe, 3 poms, 4 arctic skuas, 4 btd's, 2 rtd's, little gull, trickle of waders (c.60 whimbrel, c.250 barwit) and commics (c.100), c.25 scoter, c.10 razorbills. merlin in off and brilliant view of a hobby, 6 yellow wags in.