Friday 27th. July 2012

Catching up on the last couple of days , on Thursday with the hot , sunny weather continuing , I decided to see how the Reptiles and Dormice were getting on , up on the Greensand Ridge . Once again , the temperature was about 20C on my arrival , but what was found was definitely not the same as yesterday . As some of the refugia were still in shade , I concentrated on the Dormice to begin with , and in the fourth box , found a male and female . Both were in good condition , and hopefully

will breed successfully . This was the male , just before I posted him back into his home . With all the rain earlier , and now the warmth , the vegetation around the site has gone crazy and at times it felt like battling through a jungle . Almost at the end of the boxes , another male and female were found , and hopes of another family from them in the future . With things warming up , I turned my attention

to the refugia , but as I said it was nothing like yesterday . A single Grass Snake and two Slow Worms , one minus the end of it's tail , amazing the difference in two sites not that far apart . The only Adder found was a dead one , basically the skin and the backbone was all that was left of the reptile , the rest having been eaten away 'by nature' . Eight species of butterfly , including this

Comma were recorded , apart from Meadow Brown , most of the rest were singletons .
In the afternoon I had a look at Spring Park Pond , which held a few species of damselfly , but no

dragonflies . Of interest around the pond I found Common Hemp-nettle / Galeopsis tetrahit , worthy

of better than a 'Common' name , Water Mint / Mentha aquatica , both members of the large Labiate

family , and just starting to flower , Purple Loosetrife / Lythrum salicaria . A few butterflies were recorded around the pond , but things improved when I visited the small meadow , having fought my way through Bracken that was far taller than myself . Small Skippers , Gatekeepers and a single Marbled White and my first Brown Argus for some considerable time , were some of those recorded , but pride of place went to a female Red Admiral that was flitting between Stinging Nettles on the edge . As I got closer , and constantly stung for my

efforts , I could see that she was egg laying , on selected Nettles . Never staying still for any length of time , this was the only shot I managed of her . When she stopped in a more open area , I took note of where she appeared to lay an egg , and when she moved off , I checked the Nettle leaf , and there was

her single egg , attached to the leaf . This species lays single eggs , unlike their relatives , the Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell , which lay multiple eggs on a given plant . In total nine species were recorded during the visit . I had another look at the pond before leaving , little had changed , but I did get the opportunity to photograph the two forms of female Azure Damselfly . 90% of the female

population are of the green form like the one here ovipositing , but the odd 10% is made up of the

blue form , pictured above .
This morning , I had a run to the tip / recycling depot , so also visited the cemetery and the adjacent Country Park . I obviously chose the wrong time to go as had to queue for nearly half an hour to get in . When I finally got to the Country Park , it was very quiet , and muggy . Still young Coots and

Moorhens around , young of the latter getting a preening lesson from one of the adults . Most unexpected sighting was a really young family of Great Crested Grebe , with one of the offspring still

getting a ride by the adult . They were well out in the lake and I only had the 100mm. macro lens with me , hence the long distance shot . After a while the family moved off behind the island , so I made my way to the next feeding platform around the lake . As I approached the platform , I could

hear the constant calling of the youngsters , and was pleased to find them much nearer than before . As can bee seen , the three all being different sizes . They waited together whilst the adults searched and found a steady stream of food for them .
This afternoon , I spent a couple of hours at High Elms in another attempt to located any White-letter Hairstreaks . The bottom line was that I failed to get a single sighting , and a week on from the BC visit , Silver-washed Fritillary numbers do not seem to have increased as would have been expected .

I found 3 perhaps 4 females , one pictured , added to them some 5 or 6 males , the total population would not be more than 10/12 , quite a dip from the 35/40 recorded a couple of years ago . I shall keep looking for the WLHs , I just hope we haven't lost them . On the way around , a Broad-leaved

Helleborine , a bit more colourful than the one on the Common , was found in flower . Only other

interest found was this Silver-ground Carpet moth , I think .