When the news broke on Friday morning that an Eleonora`s Falcon had been seen in Kent and also knowing that this species was so rare, I had to go for it. This species has been seen only 7 times and had always been a One day bird. As I tried to get a team together to visit the area and see this ultra-rare falcon my whole squadron of twitcher mates seemed to be doing something else! One mate, Rob D from Huddersfield, responded positively and plans were drawn up early Friday evening. Rising from my bed at 4-30am and meeting Rob around 5-30am brought back lots of memories of rarity chasing. We headed south down the A1 on a nice morning and made good progress without stopping along the way. News that the Eleonora`s Falcon was still present certainly didnt slow us down as we made our way onto the M25/M2 arriving at Worth by 10-15am. Staff from a nearby RSPB reserve directed us to the area and as we parked up around 200 cars were parked in a field. We dashed along the small tracks for about half a mile and arrived at Pinnock Wall, its just a track really. Lots of birders were watching something perched in a distant tree, was it the Eleonora`s Falcon? It sure was, but the heat haze made it a little difficult to properly identify. Eventually the bird was watched for about 2 hours as it flew so gracefully around the front and above The Great Wood It came to about 50 yards away at one time and we could only marvel at its speed and ability to perform such great acrobatics as it pursued dragonflies to eat. It was also seen pulling the wings of a dragonfly in mid-air then swallowing the insect. A truly magnificent falcon to observe being midsize between a Peregrine Falcon and European Hobby. This species winters in Madagascar and heads north to breed in the Mediterranean but this bird was identified as a first summer male, so it must have got lost? It was also seen flying alongside a European Hobby also catching dragonflies, a female Red footed Falcon was also seen as it patiently waited to catch prey items from its perch. It was difficult to drag ourselves away from the falcon, but other matters had to be attended to. After talking to a local birder, Rob D got some good information about rare butterflies in the Kent area and we decided to try to see some of the 3 he told us about. At East Blean Woods near Canterbury we walked around and luckily met a butterfly expert who took us to see one of the target species, Heath Fritillary, very nice, a new species for us both. Onto Queendown Warren, Farthing Corner (Dont laugh, I did) near Sittingbourne, Kent. A delightful chalk grassland reserve in a south facing valley, as we tried to see our second butterfly species, Adonis Blue, a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew past us. We combed the area but could only find a female Common Blue. As we were leaving we saw some people looking around in the next field, could this be the right area? Again the man was very helpful and immediately put us onto a male Adonis Blue butterfly, very striking we then saw a few more of them. We left the area and headed for home having had a truly excellent experience. Many thanks to Rob D for his tireless driving ability, shame about a Sardinian Warbler though! Dave O.