ASHDOWN FOREST WEDNESDAY 27TH APRIL 2011

Not just off patch today but off county. I joined Greenie of 'Greenie In The Wild' fame for a days fossicking around the Sussex Wildlife Trust's Old Lodge reserve in the heart of the superb Ashdown Forest. We met at 0800 under light cloud but with a promise of sun later, which we hoped would be sooner rather than later due to the very cold breeze.

Within a few hundred yards we bagged our first male Stonechat of the day. He was turned out in his best bib and tucker and was dressed to impress somebody, but not us. He was one of at least two males here vying for the attention of the local ladies.

As ever fence posts are popular for posing Chats, but the one above, like all the birds today wouldn't tolerate our presence close enough for some decent pictures but even at this distance he cuts the mustard in the now watery sunshine. As for the one below, who knows, semaphor, territorial displaying, waving, under arm problem? Your guess is as good, or bad, as mine.

Stonechats weren't the only birds about, we also saw and heard Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs, Song Thrushes, Green Woodpeckers, Gt Spotted Woodpeckers and of course, my favourite of the day, Redstarts.
We saw maybe four or five around the site, if my memory serves me right we only saw one female. The rest were stunning males, the long distance shot below gives an idea of the fantastic colour of these birds at this time, especially when they are lit up by the sun. Indeed, my favourite moment of the day was without doubt when two males had a bit of a scrap and rose up from the forest floor together, claw to claw and beak to beak, with wings spread and the sun illuminating them like a ball of orange fire. I commented to Greenie that a photograph of that moment would have been a once in a lifetime shot.

Talking of fire, the acrid smell of charcoal and scorched undergrowth greeted us further along the track. I don't know how big the area was that had been destroyed, or how many creatures had been burnt to a cinder, or how many birds had been forced to abandon nests, eggs, or chicks to escape the flames. But I hope that the person who decided to have a barbecue in that tinderbox on monday afternoon burnt his sausage, if you get my drift. I refer to him as a person only because I don't want to offend morons.

This part of the forest isn't a great butterfly habitat but I was pleased to find a couple of Green Hairstreaks on the Gorse. I know i've posted a few shots of them recently but I think they're worth it. Especially with a face like the one pictured below, it looks as if it was meant to be a character for a childrens book or a Disney film or something. As ever, left click to get up close and personal.

Two other birds on our wish list today were Tree Pipit and Wood Lark. Greenie soon picked up the song of the Pipit and soon we had our first one, my first ever, on a telegraph wire and another, better view of one later in the day. The Wood Lark however wasn't playing ball today, although we did hear a report of one or two being seen earlier in the day. I'll come back soon for that one. Another species that we saw but stayed out of reach of my lens was Lesser Redpoll, a bird that i've only seen once or twice this year, once in my garden and once at Sevenoaks WR.

Around lunchtime we stopped for a bit of a sky watch and witnessed a sky full of Buzzards, seven in all, who drifted up almost simultaneously in the distance and all circled on the warming thermals and disappeared together into the heat haze. This was followed by another great sighting. I noticed what I thought at first were another two Buzzards above a tree line in the middle distance, but closer inspection showed them to be Ravens. They are my first southern Ravens, just a pity we weren't in Kent!

Later in the afternoon we revisited a couple of small ponds to see if there had been damselfly activity in the now quite warm sunshine. Sure enough, it wasn't long before Greenie found some Large Reds, pictured above and below. Pity there were no dragonflies today but you can't have everything, and we'd certainly had a lot by now with a list of about 36 species I think.

But just when you thought i'd finished, and before you doze off, here's one of my favourite beetles, the Green Tiger. I think these are great, but that's only because i'm bigger than him. I wouldn't be so keen if I was smaller!

It was a great day out, and as usual I learned a lot from Greenie. I also learned that it's good to go somewhere new and see some different stuff sometimes. I wonder what's going on at New Hythe though!

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!

One hundred not out!

I had a look around New Hythe lakes today. There were very few highlights with just a couple of Sand Martins passing through, a Reed Warbler showing well in the reeds alongside Brooklands and a surprise Grey Wagtail in the corner of Abbey Mead lake along with a Nightingale and a very vocal Garden Warbler. There were a couple of juvenile Goldfinches on the East Scrub also a Green Woodpecker and a couple of Great Spots. A Willow Warbler was still singing in the West Scrub where a Jay was also seen. The only raptor spotted was a Kestrel soaring eastwards over the river on the way back.
This is my 100th post on Sharp by Nature and I was hopeful that something special would turn up for me at New Hythe and it did. Not a bird but a butterfly, a Green Hairstreak, now I know this isn't a rare species but it's the first i've found at New Hythe and that makes it special. It's not the greatest of shots but it'll do. There were surprisingly few butterflies around but I did manage Holly Blue, Common Blue, Red Admiral and Speckled Wood in small numbers.

GREEN HAIRSTREAK

Dragonflies were also few and far between with this female or immature Black Tailed Skimmer was the only one that settled long enough for a picture.

BLACK TAILED SKIMMER

While walking across the East Scrub I saw Dennis and Doreen who had been shown some Orchids on site earlier by Eddie Denson. They then pointed them out to me and below are some of the pictures I took of them.

PYRAMIDAL ORCHID

SOUTHERN MARSH ORCHID

COMMON SPOTTED ORCHID

Unfortunately I'm not too confident with identification of these little beauties......................but I'm sure somebody will help me out and then I'll label them properly.

Many thanks to Greenie of Greenie in the Wild for helping me out with the ID's of the Orchids. Click on the link to visit his blog.