Wednesday 17th. April 2013

I have been bursting to get out and see/hear the Nightingales since they arrived , and posted by several fellow Bloggers . Ideally , I would have liked to have got out early , but I had to wait in for a delivery , and as it turned out , it was similar weather to yesterday morning , wet and windy , but better was promised for the afternoon . The delivery arrived just before lunchtime and so did a brightness in the weather . Taking a chance , I headed for New Hythe , and headed for the scrubby area near the industrial area . I parked up and walked towards the site , only to encounter a situation before I even got to the barrier , but more of that next post . Halfway along the track the magical sound of a singing male Nightingale exploded from an area of Hawthorn and Elder , and search as I could , I couldn't find the bird , not unusual with the species . A second singing male just before the ditch also went unfound . I retraced my steps slowly , but still didn't see either bird . Reaching the barrier , I took the track to a small car park , where beyond , I could hear at least another male singing . The singing stopped as I approached , so I did the same , to play a waiting game . Trouble was , the Nightingales played the game better , and moved back onto the track that I had been walking . Next to where I had been waiting was a Goat Willow , covered in catkins , and many birds came and fed , either on the pollen or insects attracted to the pollen , but not the Nightingales . One of

the visitors to the tree was this female Blackcap . Whilst she was delicately feeding on the catkins , a

male was in full song , but for the time being , she seemed more interested in eating than anything else . As can be seen , by now the sun had broken through and lifted the temperature , which seemed to cause the male Nightingales to stop singing . I spent quite some time walking between the barrier and the diver's bridge , getting only a couple of short burst of song for my efforts . On the edge of the

scrub area , I did find Ground Ivy - Glechoma hederacea , a member of the Labiate family , in flower , along with single Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock and three Commas , two of them spiralling skyward in a courting dance . At least one Willow Warbler was heard deep in the scrub and one of the visits at the diver's bridge , one of several Common Whitethroats was singing , whilst

being tossed backwards and forwards by the still strong wind . I had been keeping an eye out for Water Voles along the ditch as well , and was standing on the diver's bridge wondering how Phil / Sharp by Nature , manages to find them seemingly at will . Does he sing , or whistle to attract them , or even a tap dance on the wooden bridge might do the trick ?  Whilst I pondered , a lady birder arrived at the bridge and we passed on what we had seen , which was pretty similar . She then asked if I knew where the Water Voles could be seen , and as I turned and pointed down the ditch towards

the industrial area , up popped a Water Vole not 3 mtrs. from where we were standing , and started eating . As Phil said on his post , it did seem less at ease than other times , and soon swam under the

bridge to the other side , before disappearing into the bankside vegetation . The lady was very impressed and asked if |I was one of the local bloggers . I said that I was a visitor . I did think of saying that I was Phil/Sharp by Nature , but heaven knows what can of worms that might have opened up ! The lady left happy with her sighting , and with a veil of cloud masking the sun , I headed back towards the car . That cloud seemed to wake up the males again , and I soon got my first

sighting , but I only managed two shots , before the bird dropped into scrub , to give a full rendition of all it's notes . In all , I heard a minimum of 6 birds and had sightings of 3 , including this one that

was singing his heart out at the time . Back home , I think we're going to have to change the name of

the Blue Tit box on the side of the garage , just outside the kitchen window .
And finally , I would just say that the previously mentioned situation encountered on the start of the visit , should probably have a 'S' classification .

Tuesday 16th. April 2013

An 0430 alarm call , and I was off to help fellow hedgelayer Roger with a bird survey on farmland around Bewl Water Reservoir , near Lamberhurst , Kent . No sooner had I got on the road , drizzle started to fall , and it continued intermittently all the way down to the site . Added to that , the wind was really gusty , and cool . We set off on a three hour survey in some really good bird habitat , a mixture of water , farmland and woods , but as I say the conditions were not conducive to birding . In all , 33 species were recorded , with many expected species missing . Good numbers of Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs were recorded , but these were the only migrants that were . There were a few highlights , including a drumming Lesser Spotted Woodpecker that was very difficult to spot in the gloom , but Roger managed to get it in the binoculars just before it flew off . My contribution was a

flyover Red Kite , at distance and in the gloom , the shots I quickly fired off produced just a silhouette of the bird , but no question of the species . In the woodland areas , large areas were

carpeted with Wood Anemones - Anenome nemorosa , a member of the Buttercup family , but with no sunshine , their flowers were closed tightly . Amongst the Bluebells , 10/15 spikes of Early Purple

Orchid - Orchis mascula  , not yet in flower were a good find as they hadn't been recorded before on site . By the time we finished the survey , conditions had hardly improved from when we started . As I would be almost passing , I called in at the 'Tree laying' Reserve for a look around . The area around the feeders were much quieter , with just a single male Siskin seen , and Tits , Chaffinches and

Goldfinches taking the opportunity to gorge on the food provided . A look under the refugia produced a juvenile Smooth Newt , A Common Shrew that didn't hang around , and three juvenile Great

Crested Newts together with a juvenile Slow Worm , all warming up together . The best sighting was an all too brief glimpse of a Stoat . It appeared to go into a wood pile , which I staked out for quite some time , before moving on without another sighting , perhaps next visit . A sub adult Grass Snake

was little compensation . A male Pheasant was strutting around the place as if he owned it , but he did

look very dapper in his breeding plumage . A bit more colour on the flower front , with the yellow Lesser Celandine being joined by the first Common Dog Violets - Viola riviniana that I have seen

this year . By the time I left , there was very little improvement in the weather , and that was born out when I stopped on the causeway at Bough Beech on my way home . The wind was coming straight down the reservoir , and it was chilly . I did find some shelter around the Visitor Centre and also saw

my second Swallow of the year , being blown past me . Apart from that , just two more Grass Snakes that slither quickly away before they got into the viewfinder , and as I returned to the car , a very

confiding 'cock Sparrow' , one of several that are usually found at the entrance . Heading home over the Greensand Ridge , the skies began to brighten , and I arrived home to sunshine , that Carol informed me had been out since lunchtime . Can't win them all came to mind .

Sunday 14th. April 2013

A catch up on two morning visits up on the Common this weekend . The juvenile Common Buzzard is still in the horse field , but yesterday morning it was down the bottom of the field and the local

Corvids , especially the nesting Rooks were dive-bombing it non stop . Eventually , it got the message and retreated back up to the top of the field . Arriving at the heathland area of the Common ,

the mobile Chiffchaff was still calling , but I did manage the odd distant shot . I'm sure there was a female about too , but she kept low in the Gorse , contact calling back to the male . Whilst watching

the two of them , a low fast moving bird turned out to be my first Swallow of the Summer . I just about managed to focus on the bird before it was out of sight . At the Long Tailed Tit nest , the

building work finished , the pair were busy 'soft furnishings' , to make their nest as warm and comfortable as possible .
A sunnier but windy visit this morning , found three Common Buzzards , low over the heathland area . As I watched them , one broke off from the other two and cruised quite close to where I was

standing , allowing me to get a good sequence of in flight shots . But as soon as it realised that I was there , it veered off and quickly gained height , but it was enjoyable while it lasted . Also seen on the

visit was a male Brimstone and this Comma , looking a bit tatty , but after the Winter we've just had , it's a miracle that anything can survive . Several Buff-tailed Bumble Bees were also on the wing , and

a Seven Spot Ladybird was found warming up on the Gorse . Back home in the garden , things were

definitely friendly in the pond , and whilst I was barbecuing this afternoon , a male and female Brimstone were chasing around the garden .

Thursday 11th. April 2013

Two more problems to contend with regarding the computer . The weekend before last , the computer was getting really sluggish , and I noticed that the blue indicator showing how much capacity was left on 'Local disk C' , the internal hard drive , had turned red . showing just 26GB free out of 223GB . Fortunately , we had a family get together that weekend , and took the laptop along to show my brother , whom I had bought it from . We didn't manage to solve it on the day , but after a couple of evenings on the telephone , and him directing me to areas of the computer that I didn't know even existed , the reason was found . I download pictures into Windows Photo Gallery , and process them from there . The ones I want to keep , I copy to an external hard drive , then delete all into the Recycle bin , which I empty when I remember , thinking that was the end of them . But , Windows Photo Gallery keeps the original image in another file that is not deleted , and builds up , eating up the Local disk C space . When I found the file , there were some 28,000 images in it , from both my and my brother's snapping . No wonder the computer was sluggish . Thanks to my brother , cheers John , the computer now runs much quicker , and I now have 170GB free of the 223GB . If anyone has a similar problem , I'd be only too happy to point them in the right direction .
No sooner was that sorted , getting on line became almost impossible , and the phone had a constant loud crackle on it . Yesterday morning , the engineer arrived and found a bad connection up the pole in the road outside the house . That solved the crackling on the phone , but hoped for better performance with Broadband is still a long way away , with the Broadband connection constantly dropping out , or taking ages to engage .
Catching up on the last few days , on Saturday afternoon a look up on the Common found things very quiet and after failing to find a Brimstone or Peacock butterfly on the wing , I went to see how the Long Tailed Tits were getting on with their nest , that they started some weeks ago in a thick clump of Gorse . They must have stopped building during the cold weather , as the nest was not much further on . It was obvious that the pair were very selective with the materials , as after every visit , they flew well out of sight and didn't return for several minutes . This time away gave an opportunity

for a close up view of the nest , once again an amazing creation , held together by spider's webs and decorated with lichens . Whilst watching the nest building , a pair and a singleton Common Buzzard

drifted over the site and back several times , the pair displaying once when they passed high overhead . On the way back home , the juvenile Common Buzzard was sitting again in the tree by the

lane , and by staying in the car , managed to get a better shot . In reply to Malachite 11 , the bird can be found in the horse field on the right hand side of Fox Hill , heading downhill from  Keston village . Look on any of the fence posts that divide the field , or on the posts and trees surrounding the field . His favourite posts are those opposite Heritage Hill , where I usually park . It's still showing well , so hope you are lucky . Sunday morning , with the frost just starting to melt , I arrived up on the Greensand Ridge to look for Adders . It turned out to be

a good visit , finding three pairs of males and two singletons . No females seen as yet , they have more sense than to come out in these conditions , they will wait for the temperature to rise . On the way back home , I again called in on the Common and again headed for the LTT nest . Since yesterday the roof has been completed , and work on the entrance hole has started . I do hope that they are successful after all their hard work . As I mentioned before , they are probably the pair that raised two successful broods last year , within a couple of metres of this year's nest . On my way back to the car , I had my first very mobile singing Chiffchaff . Whilst having breakfast over the last few

days , as well as constant visits from the local Jackdaws , a very nervous Jay was also attracted . On Wednesday morning , one became two , and the second bird appears much more layed back , feeding

on the top of the barbecue , just 3mtrs. from the kitchen window , and not bothered by myself and the camera in full view in the kitchen . If only it had been in the sunshine , and no double glazing in between . I later had a look around South Norwood Country Park , hoping to find some migrants in some hazy sunshine , but the only ones seen / heard during the visit were two Chiffchaffs . I must say

though , that the song of this male Dunnock was doing his bit to make it seem springlike . But , alongside the lake , this Moorhen seemed to be suffering from 'Spring fever' , having flown 3-4

metres up into a Goat Willow , to get at newly emerging catkins , which it seem to be enjoying . Another visit up onto the Greensand Ridge in the afternoon , as the first signs of rainclouds appeared , proved to be the most successful so far , with 11 Adders , all males were found , including

these three , snugly tucked together against the lowering temperature . A very quick stop on the

Common on the way home , found the LTT's nest completed , fingers crossed for them , and they will

probably need it , as this male Kestrel was perched very close by .
Just before publishing this , I got a call from my ISP to make sure all was well with the telephone repair . I confirmed it was , but also told them the Broadband problems . They say it could take 72 hours from the repair for the Broadband signal to settle down , we'll see . Can't say when the next post will be , the Broadband connection has failed about six times whilst trying to do this one . Hope  things pan out soon .

Friday 5th. April 2013

The snow from yesterday's 'white out' blizzards was still lying thick this morning , but slowly , a less bitter wind started to melt it , and by lunchtime , it was all but gone . I set off locally soon afterwards , and although it was cool , that bitterly cold wind of yesterday was gone , at last . Heading down towards the horse fields , I just happened to look into an adjoining garden to find six Rose-

ringed Parakeets , taking a siesta , no doubt after their lunch . Just 4 here , the other two probably driven further along the branch by the snoring . A small flock of Fieldfare dropped in momentarily

along the bottom lane , but before I could them in the viewfinder , they were noisily off again . As I

approached the rookery , there were plenty of birds in the air , but very few around the nests . A scan from the end of the lane and up the hill , proved that both my theory of being chased off and Phil's of having gone somewhere warm , were both wrong , as the juvenile Common Buzzard was seen sitting

on a fence post , looking for worms . But another scan heading up the hill , and it had moved . Knowing it's favoured perches , I found it right alongside the lane up hill , in a large Oak . I made my

way quietly , and managed to get within 15 mtrs. , only to find the bird with it's back to me , and many branches in front . I tried to move to the right to get a clear shot , but the bird must have heard

me , and it was off , back up the hill to the fence posts . I left it to it's worming , and on the way back down the hill found two Song Thrushes , fossicking amongst the horse droppings , much to the

annoyance of a male Blackbird , who was trying to escort the pair out of his parish . On one of the tracks on the horse fields , this Rook was seen , apparently collecting stones . I watched it fly up to

the rookery and it seemed to pass the stones to it's mate . The rookery was much busier and noisier

now , with several birds on and near nests , but I didn't see any sign of youngsters yet . I must say , it was nice to arrive back home , for once , not chilled to the bone .