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 .