Sunday 18th. March 2012

Well , that's it , another season of hedgelaying with the Surrey Hedgelaying Group is over . And to celebrate the end of the season , we had a wet morning , albeit a rarity over the season , before retiring to the local pub for a meal . The new season can't come quick enough .

This morning started bright , with yet another visit from the male Blackcap , for once actually facing

 towards the camera , and whilst watching him having his breakfast , a couple of visiting Starlings

were shimmering iridescently in the early morning light . With cloud and showers expected by lunchtime , I headed off to the site I visited last Sunday and was lucky enough to find seven male Adders basking in the sunshine . Today , with the same sunshine , but slightly cooler , I didn't find a single animal . I moved on to a second site which had the same sort of conditions as the first , and did

find a couple of animals . The first , a large male , looked even bigger as he had flattened his body , thus exposing the maximum surface of his body to the warmth of the sun . The second allowed just a

head and shoulder shot , before he backed into the vegetation and was lost from sight . These two animals show just how variable males can be in colouration . On the way back home , I stopped off at the Common , and am very pleased to say that both LTTit nest are intact and hopefully the female will be egg laying now . Whilst on the site , I saw something moving in some long grass in the distance , and as I got closer , a Jay flew up into an adjacent tree . It then dropped down again , but out of my sight , so I carefully approached the area , got behind a tree , and waited . After a short
while , the bird flew up and into a Holly tree . As is my usual luck , the bird sat with it's back towards

the camera , but after a short while , it hopped to another branch and sat facing the camera . It sat giving a soft sub song , and some very unusual noises too . But , in that short time , I managed to get

a few of the best shots that I have ever got of the species . On the way back to the car , the air was full of the repetitive song of two , maybe three male Chiffchaffs , one of them sat high up in a Silver

Birch , I wonder if they were so enthusiastic in the cloud and rain this afternoon .