Sunday 11 March 2012

Sunday 11th. March 2012

Catching up again on the last two days , so it is back to the picture and comment format .When the cloud finally broke yesterday , I had an hour up on the Common , finding ,
My first Slow Worm of the year on the heathland area ,
along with two Common Lizards , a third was found later ,
one of six female , along with one male , with a smile , Pheasants ,
an enormous Queen , Buff-tailed Bumblebee ,
and , on checking the suspected second LTTit nest , found it , a bit behind the first , as the pair still have to work out how to build the dome by the look of it .
Today , the weather was very similar , taking till after lunch to finally brighten up . When it did , I decided to have a look at a Surrey site that I helped to work on during the Winter . When I parked , I thought that I had made a mistake , as a cool wind was blowing , but by the time I got to the site , it was warm , without a breath of wind . With ideal conditions , I found 7 male Adders out soaking up the rays , these are four of them .



A male Brimstone , charged with testosterone , was charging around the site , and put up a Comma ,
my first for the year . Another year first was this Bee-fly / Bombylius major , found feeding on
Common Dog Violets . Also found amongst the scrub , the even more colourful Sweet Violets /
Viola odorata . Also out in full flower , if you can call it that , is Dog's Mercury / Mercurialis
perennis , a member of the Spurge family . Several Mistle Thrushes seemed to be involved in a ' who can sing loudest and longest' competition whilst I was on site .
In the garden over the weekend , the female Blackcap came to feed yesterday , and the male paid a visit today . Strangest sighting , was a pair of Carrion Crows pinching the roof off a Magpie's nest in next door's conifer , whilst at least one of the Magpies was in the nest .


6 comments:

Rohrerbot said...

You sure had a good viewing:) Now do you search for the snakes or are they just in your presence?:) I have to admit. I like seeing your shots but they do give me the heebie jeebies:)

Greenie said...

Rohrerbot,
Adders are very few and far between , but , if you know where there are populations , then visiting at this time of year , as they emerge from their underground hibernation , they can be found quite readily . When the females emerge in 2/3 weeks , the animals will disperse to breed , and feed , and it will be much harder to find them then .

Alan Pavey said...

That was a pretty full hour Greenie, some great pics there nice to see the Slow Worm and the Adders. Still waiting for my first butterfly at Sissinghurst.

ShySongbird said...

Hi Greenie, It really does feel like Spring now and it's so good to see the Adders on your posts again.

Oddly, I still haven't seen Violets here but plenty of Celandines now and Primroses :-) and yesterday I saw three Small Tortoiseshells flitting around together!!

Lovely photo of the Comma.

Phil said...

Nice to see some reptiles and butterflies Greenie, it seems like a long time since they last featured. Just need some dragonflies now!

Warren Baker said...

Very springy visits Greenie, I'm always on the Lookout for adders here, but with no luck. One day!