Friday 8th.April 2011

I arrived on the Downs this morning , just as the sun was casting it's warmth over the lower slopes . But , further up , it was really quite cool . I had arranged to meet fellow blogger Steve / Kingsdowner a bit later , but spent the time before he arrived , having a quick look around . It wasn't warm enough yet to find any Adders , but the odd Common Lizard and Slow Worm were found . Having found Early Purple Orchids in flower yesterday , I checked on the ones here , finding several flower spikes , still sheathed , and just one specimen with it's first few flowers just opening . Steve arrived with a shopping list of some reptiles , a Cuckoo and a Green Hairstreak . And so started a most enjoyable wander around , and of course , some good banter . I'm afraid I was not able to conjure up a Cuckoo , but we did manage to find 8 Adders , 5 Common Lizards and 6 Slow Worms . We also managed to tick the first Green Hairstreak , for either of us this year . My book says early May to late June , but the recent run of sunny days obviously encouraged this individual to do it's own thing . Apart from the Green Hairstreak , we recorded 2 Peacock , 1 White sp. , 1 Orange Tip , 4 Brimstone including a female and 1 SmTortoiseshell . Of interest , all the Adders that we saw on our way out were not found on our return journey , definitely another case of too hot too soon .Steve had to continue on to do some work in the area , so after the best part of a couple of hours in great company , we went our own ways . One of the lanes an my way home provided a great show of Greater Stitchwort/Stellaria holostea . It's poorer relation , Lesser , will be out in about a month's time . After lunch , with blue sky and warm sun still abounding , I returned to Spring Park Pond , primarily to see if the Orange Tip butterflies had emerged . I didn't have to wait long for me question to be answered , as I recorded 3 males and a female , one of the males coming to the Honesty at the back of the pond for refuelling . Almost immediately , another year first , the first Damselfly , a male Large Red , looking extremely dapper . Lots of tadpole activity , and with warmer surface temperature , more Common/Smooth Newt activity as well , like this male , just about to break surface , a quick gulp of air , and back down into the depths . Elsewhere in the pond , 'life or death' struggles were taking place between the Newts and the Ramshorn Snails . I must admit it took quite some time to work out whether the Newt was trying to get the Snail out , or vice versa . Eventually I came to the conclusion that it was the former , and although fellow bloggers are well used to seeing the infamous 'death roll' , especially on the River Medway in the New Hythe area , it is not often seen in West Wickham . Also hovering about in the shallows was another of the 'introduced species' , three of which were seen today . As well as the Orange Tips , 5+ Peacock and 3 Holly Blues were recorded , the last of the Holly Blues stopping for a shot just before I reached the car .