Friday 24th. February 2012

Most of today was spent catching up on an ever lengthening list of jobs around the house and garden . Mind you , a few points of interest did catch my attention . In the pond , Spring was

certainly in the air for these amphibians , but the female in the middle didn't look too happy about it .

With little colour around , the multi coloured Lungwort / Pulmonaria officinalis brightens things up . Another was Winter Jasmine , and it was around this that I first heard , then saw , what I originally

thought was an all black Bumblebee , with orange hairs on it's back legs . But , after a bit of time on Google , it turns out to be a female Hairy-footed Flower-bee / Anthophora plumipes , one of the earliest bees on the wing . I have a feeling that I have come across this species before . It would be nice to find the male now , he has orange hairs on the front part of his thorax . Right down the bottom of the garden was evidence of the Wood Mouse . A collection of Hazel nuts , minus the kernels . From the actual hole in the shell , it could have been a Wood Mouse or a Bank Vole , but because of

the marks on the surface of the shell , Wood Mouse was confirmed . Had it been a Bank Vole , there would not have been any shell surface marks . Of interest , had it been a Dormouse , the shell surface marks would be there , but the inside surface of the hole would have been smooth . I must admit that I had been itching to go back up onto the Greensand Ridge all day , and with most jobs finished , I managed a very quick visit , just before grey clouds came rolling in . Yesterday's male Adder was

still basking in the same place , and two other males , this being one of them were also found .