A STREAK, A SKIPPER, AND A BRIMSTONE MYSTERY

After my visit to the Downs with Greenie in The Wild last week, Carol decided that she too, would like to see an Adder in the wild. So today, with talk of sun and temperatures nudging 20 degrees, surely a recipe for success, we headed for the hills. I wasn't totally surprised to see Greenie's car parked on the roadside verge when we arrived at 09.45. But I was surprised when a quick squint through the bins revealed not just Greenie, but also Ken Browne, alias 'Focusing on Nature'. This was looking like a bloggers convention. A quick call to Ken revealed the surprising news that they hadn't, at that time, found any snakes. But never mind, the morning was still young.

Carol and I had some early success with a single Grass snake, which spotted us at the same time and retreated unhurriedly to the safety of the undergrowth. But from then on, for whatever reason, the snakes didn't want to be seen. We saw a couple of Common Lizards but even they were few and far between. Thankfully, there were plenty of Slow Worms to provide at least some reptilian interest. And of course when our crawling and slithering friends don't play ball, we can always turn to our flying friends. Like the Common Whitethroat pictured at the top of the post.

Just a single Green Hairstreak was seen today, pictured above. This is the smallest of the Hairstreaks and is the first to appear in Spring after overwintering as a chrysalis. At rest, with wings always closed, it's green coloration looks stunning, but in flight they appear drab due to the brown upperwings of both the male and the female. Maybe it was the cool breeze that kept the numbers down, but if it was, it certainly didn't trouble the Brimstones. Like last week, they were plentiful, bright, sulphur yellow males rode the breeze along the hedgerows with presumably just one thing on their minds. Females. Like the one pictured below, who had just one thing on her mind as well, and after some searching, eventually found it. Buckthorn. Having found it, she laid her eggs on it. You can almost see the smile on her face in the second shot. Left click it to see what I mean.

Like Green Hairstreaks, Brimstones never settle with their wings open and keep them closed over their back when they are feeding. The one below is nectaring on what I think are a species of Forget-Me-Not and I really like the way the sun is shining through it's wings and outlining the shape of the abdomen and the overlap of the fore and hindwing.

I followed what I thought was a small day flying moth which eventually landed on the ground for long enough to see that it was actually a Grizzled Skipper. This is the smallest and the earliest of the Skippers and it's seemingly erratic flight is incredibly difficult to follow. I believe Wild Strawberry is one of the caterpillars main food sources and there's lots of it on the Downs so there were probably more around, but like I said, they're not easy to spot.

The last picture is a bit of a mystery. We noticed a Brimstone on the ground in front of us and realised that it was dead. I went to pick it up and saw that there were actually three of them, all together, all in pristine condition, and all dead. Any ideas anyone?

So no Adders for me and Carol today, but a very enjoyable morning anyway and we'll be back in the not too distant future. I'm looking forward to reading how Ken and Greenie's day went, hopefully they did better on the reptile front than me.

SNAKES ALIVE! MONDAY 11TH APRIL 2011

I met Greenie of Greenie in the wild fame today for a walk around the North Downs looking for reptiles, and in particular, Adders. He told me that we would almost certainly find some, and as usual he wasn't speaking with a forked tongue! The picture above shows two of the seven that we found during our wanderings. I think i'm right in saying that the female is in the front and the male, with the piercing blue eyes, which means he'll soon be sloughing his skin, is at the top. You wouldn't want to be a small mammal and see him coming towards you, would you. Left click to see what I mean!

Talking of sloughing skin, here's one that Greenie spotted in the undergrowth further along. This is a complete Adder skin and the tail end was still wrapped around a piece of vegetation which allowed the snake to slip out, so to speak.

Common Lizards like the one pictured above were, as their name suggests, in abundance. Some basking on pieces of wood and many more along the edges of the paths or anywhere that was catching the sun. This one has flattened himself to present as much of his body to the rays as possible. These would and probably do, make a nice meal for the local Kestrels, two of which we saw, but today they were more interested in displaying and calling to each other overhead.

Butterflies were well represented and I saw my first Speckled Wood of the year. It's pictured above, but the shot was taken from below, if you get my drift. And the one below was pictured from above, confused, so am I.

Without doubt the most prolific butterfly species of the day was the Brimstone. They were everywhere, mostly females but with the quite a few males thrown in the mix. Greenie told me that the females were looking for Buckthorn to lay their eggs on. We watched and waited for a female to land on a small piece with newly emerging leaves and I managed to get the picture below of her actually laying a single egg on the leaf bud. This is a first for me and I must say, I was thrilled to see, at first hand, the beginning of the next generation of this super butterfly.

The picture below is of a Buckthorn leaf bud with a Brimstone butterfly egg, the small white grain of rice to the right, laid a few seconds earlier. I've never seen one before and i'm very grateful to Greenie for showing me all this super stuff. In case you're wondering, the pink thing in the background is Greenie's hand, any palm readers out there?

Soon after we arrived Greenie said that we might possibly get a Green Hairstreak today, given the location and conditions. I've only ever seen a couple, including one at New Hythe last year. Well we saw seven in all! You just run out of superlatives with some of this stuff. I'll just say they're fantastic, there, i've run out! They flutter past you, a small dull looking thing, more like a day flying moth or something. Then they land. Then you see their true colour. Enough said.

And don't you just love their stripy socks and matching antenna.

We saw lots of Slow Worms, always a favourite of mine. They have friendly faces, well fairly friendly. This one was a bruiser, the picture doesn't do it justice. It's a male I think and although you can't see from the picture, it has some quite nice blueish spots along it's back.

Another first butterfly of the year was the Grizzled Skipper pictured above. It was the only one we found but I'm sure there were more. The trouble is they are so small and they fly so erratically, that they are easily overlooked. Plus they look to me more like moths on the wing as well. Other butterflies seen included Orange Tips and a few Peacocks.

I was amazed at how many different species of Bees we saw. The one above was seen quite regularly but i'm by no means sure what it is. Another unidentified small Bee had a red tail and we watched for ages as it built a nest from small lengths of dry grass which it ferried in like a helicopter. Greenie managed to get a shot of it in action I think, check out his blog to see if it came out and if he managed to ID it, unlike me.

The day wouldn't have been complete without a Grass snake or two and the two pictured together below fitted the bill. They were entwined, rather intimately, at the base of a wood pile. I'm not exactly sure which is which but I think the male is the one whose head is in the shot. They slipped lazily away after a while, seemingly unabashed at being caught in a romantic embrace. Or maybe i'm just imagining it.

As we walked back to the cars we heard the unmistakeable mewing of a Buzzard. We looked up into the bright blue sky and watched as no less than four drifted over together. There were a couple of half hearted talon locks before they gained height and were lost to sight. That would have been a great way to end the day, but soon after it was probably surpassed by the appearance in the roadside verge of a male Adder in superb black and white breeding plumage, not sure what the term is, but he looked magnificent. Unfortunately we were still in Buzzard mode and didn't react fast enough to get a picture.

This has by no means been an exhaustive account of a great day but hopefully you get the drift.

Thanks Greenie, looking forward to the next one!

New Hythe Lakes 19th April

BLUE TIT

BLUE TIT

The Blue Tit pictured above had just seen a Sparrowhawk whizz along the Southern edge of the Sunken Marsh and was in alarm mode, hence the very upright posture and the raised head crest. I had spent a while here trying to see the Sedge Warbler which was again singing just inside the marsh in a small patch of reed bed. I still didn't manage to see it but never mind, i'd already had a view of the Cuckoo earlier, also several Blackcap a Whitethroat and a pair of Grey Wagtails over Brooklands lake so I wasn't too disappointed.

I had a call from Alan Roman to say he was in the car park so I walked back and met him at the entrance track to the Marsh. The tide was out so we hoped for maybe a Sandpiper species, we didn't see one as it happened but we did hear one calling, probably one or both of the Green Sandpipers which have been seen a couple of times recently. We did however hear and see briefly the first of 4 or 5 singing Nightingales which was a NH year tick for me although disappointingly it's song was very subdued. A pair of Linnets also flew back and forth over the river a couple of times carrying nesting material, i'm hoping they may be nesting in the Sunken Marsh as they have been seen a few times in the area now.

A Buzzard was seen from the wide river path drifting South East and a Lesser Whitethroat called from the bushes along the Southern edge of Abbey Mead lake although we didn't manage to see it. As mentioned there were a number of Nightingales in song around the Country Park but again they weren't in top gear although the phrases were certainly recognisable. The stream that runs to the South of the East Scrub and along to the Divers' footbridge has obviously been polluted with something over the weekend and the water is the colour of weak tea. I don't know what the spillage was but this is even more bad news for any Water Voles that survived the stream drying up last summer, the Mink seen in the area, the harsh winter and the Environment Agency dredging earlier in the year. I have only seen one Water Vole this year but that was down the Millstream, a long way from this area.

On a happier note I saw a Kingfisher fly past as Alan and I parted company at the bridge. At least some of these little dazzlers survived the big freeze. I retraced my steps to try again (and fail) to see the Sedge in the marsh and on the way noted the second Cuckoo of the morning calling from somewhere in the East or West Scrub, I don't think it would be the same bird as earlier, it's a fair way from the Sunken Marsh.

Only three species of Butterfly seen this morning Peacock, Comma and two Brimstones, the second of which I managed to get a half decent shot of below.

BRIMSTONE

I paid a final visit to the small riverside wood and found this large colourful specimen below growing in a sheltered spot among the old reed beds, I think it's Marsh Marigold. Hopefully somebody will correct me if i'm wrong.

MARSH MARIGOLD

Finally I noticed a few of these little Bees in the area, they were very small and first of all I thought they had bright yellow legs, but I think this is probably pollen because they also had traces of yellow on their forelegs and the front of their heads, my guess is that they've been on the Marsh Marigolds!