Tuesday 8th. April 2014

A visit to Sevenoaks Reserve this morning was mainly to see how the Treecreepers were getting on with their nesting . Arriving at the tree , I was devastated to find a large area of bark missing , exactly

where the nest entrance had been . On the ground , at the foot of the tree , was the missing piece of

bark . I have no idea what the cause was , but from the look of the bark , it was pretty rotten and could have come down in the wind , I just hope it wasn't someone after their eggs . Dismayed , after a quick look from Willow Hide and finding just Canada and Greylag Geese , I walked round towards Tyler Hide , finding the area directly in front almost devoid of birds apart from a few Lapwing . A scan over the islands wasn't much better , but it did produce my first of three migrant species , being a

Little Ringed Plover , looking minute against a Gull on one of the furthest islands from the hide . A scan of the sky produced the other two , a single Swallow and minimum of three Sand Martins , all hawking for insects over the far side of the East Lake . A look down the far end around Sutton Hide was non eventful , but on the way back , in the fenced off area where the goats were during the Winter , the descending call of a Willow Warbler made my fourth migrant . It could possibly have

been six , with several Blackcaps (male pictured) and Chiffchaffs in song on the way round . From the Reserve I moved onto the Downs , primarily to see if the Early Purple Orchids were in flower , having seen some on a Dungeness posting . I did find 25/30 rosettes of spotted leaves and three

flower spikes , but the best one will not be in flower until the weekend at the earliest . I had just found my first Adder , when a text from Carol telling me that the people had arrived to take down a large conifer in the neighbour's garden , but almost on the fenceline . They were going to give us warning so we could try and protect the plants in our border under the tree , and by the time I got home , only the main trunk remained . Fortunately , not too much damage was done to our border .
After lunch , I headed up to the Greensand Ridge , not an original intention . On the way to the

combat / mating area , I passed another male guarding , if you could call sitting on her neck guarding , a female . This could prove to be another area for action in the future . Within 5 metres of where the big black/white male mated the big female , I found the male again in mating mode with a

female , but I was pretty sure it wasn't the large one . To be sure , I went and found her , on her own , and looking very content . Back at the action , I watched the big male attempt to mate three times with the new female , and three times she refused . Once again , the mating attracted other males into

the area , and there were three 'spats' , I couldn't call them combat , as each only lasted a few seconds , the large male seeing each one off in turn . The third attempt to mate was well out in the

open , but once again the female was having none of it . Don't know what it is about this Spring , but it is certainly turning out to be an interesting one Adder-wise .
As I got home , I had my first Kent Speckled Wood , when one landed on the front window as I

walked down the path . Perhaps it was inspecting the paint job .