Wednesday 19th. March 2014

Another picture catch up on recent sightings include ; 

 

A survey of a pond with a fellow volunteer from the Common , who has a licence to handle Great Crested Newts , produced 15 specimens , some netted , others found under refugia . The larger one is a female and the white stripe on the male's tail can be seen on the other .

 

A few Common/Smooth Newts were also found , along with several male Palmate Newts , identified by the webbed back feet and the hair-like filament at the end of it's tail .

 

On the way out of the site , I saw a LTTit fly into Brambles with a feather in it's bill . Had it not been for that , you would pass the nest by .

 

An afternoon visit to Hutchinson's Bank in sunshine , found lots of Common Dog Violet / Viola riviniana in flower , along with 1 Peacock , 7/8 Comma , several in aerial combat already , and

6 Small Tortoiseshell , 2 of which were engaged in some serious courting .





 

A trip up on the Downs found another 3 , along with 3 Peacock and 13 Brimstone , including this , my first female of the year .

 

Several Bee Flies / Bombylius major , were also first sightings for the year . 

 

Like snakes , Common Lizards are able to 'flatten' their bodies , to maximise the warming up process , as this one shows .

 

Adders were at their constant 3 , including this male , who was just too fast with his tongue for the shutter speed on the camera . 

On my way home , I stopped to photograph a heavily laden Cotoneaster , which wouldn't have happened last Winter with all the Waxwings , and Winter Thrushes that arrived , and a Cherry tree in full blossom alongside .

 

A visit to the feeders in the woods , found the local ringers at work . It was mainly Tits being trapped and rung , but this Treecreeper made a nice change . In one of the ponds on the site , a female Mallard with 7/8 young , which she quickly shepherded into the vegetation .

 

A stop at Bough Beech Reservoir wasn't very exciting , except when a pair of Common Buzzards flew close to the Heronry , which put about 30 birds up in the air , 20+ in this shot . 

 

On the bottom lane , 9 nest are now completed at the Rookery , and the noise level is definitely rising . Interestingly , the Winter gales removed ever scrap of last year's nests , but a Carrion Crow nest in a tree close by , is still intact .



Getting ready to leave the house early for the last hedgelaying outing of the season , Carol spotted this fine specimen strutting about the back garden . I just managed a few shots before he flew off noisily back towards the woods .







And finally , although it is out of the news now , the flooding still continues locally , with several gardens and two rugby pitches under water . Mind you , that could be the least of their problems after what I spotted on the way past ! There are also a large number of yellow plastic ducks floating on the surface , so Jaws shouldn't go hungry .

And really finally , The Robins seemed to desert their nest down the garden in Honeysuckle , but today we noticed them in and out of the Ivy on the garage . Sure enough , another nest , this time in a spot where they can see Carol putting out the mealworms that they have been feeding on all Winter .



Monday 10th. March 2014

A catch up on visits over the last few days , starts with the bird survey at Down House . A sunny , crisp visit produced 19 species , just on the higher side of average for the site . The birds were in fine song , like us , probably glad to see and feel that sun . Great Spotted Woodpeckers were duelling on

their favoured drums , this one over by the cricket field , the other was answering from the formal garden . In the large paddock , a Green Woodpecker swooped down , probably to feed on ants . I tried

to get close , but just after this shot , I was spotted , and it was gone , along with a noisy 'yaffle' . In

the formal garden , tucked under a hedge , an Earthstar fungus / Geastrum triplex , the fleshy outer layer splitting backwards under fruiting body raised above the ground . Anything touching the spore sack , even raindrops , producing a jet of spores to be emitted from an opening on the top of the sack . Walking back to the car along the lane , a splash of blue close to the ground caught my attention . My

first thought was Borage / Borago officinalis , there being not that many blue flowers , but that grows to quite a good sized plant , and the top of this flower stalk was only 30 cms. off the ground . From the books , I now think it might be Abraham , Isaac and Jacob / Trachystemon orientalis , or maybe not ?
As the week warmed up , I made several early morning visits to an area I passed through many times en route to hedglaying over the years , and on 3/4 occasions , had sightings of Brown Hares . Unfortunately , the Hares didn't show , but it was worth while just for the song of the Skylarks . The only shot I took on the visits , was this rushed one , without a chance of changing any settings , of a

male Pheasant that appeared flying from behind a rise and disappeared into some adjoining woodland . After each failed visit , I consoled myself with a stop up on the Greensand Ridge , where

the warm weather has encouraged more Adders to come out of hibernation . Singles are still to be

found , but more doubles and trebles are becoming more frequent . Sorting out the number of heads

and tails , I must admit , is made much easier when the animals help out and stay separate . My best animal count to date is 12 , one of which I was really glad to find , a youngster born last Autumn ,

and proving breeding on the site .
This morning , with cloud forecast to take over from lunchtime , I headed to Sevenoaks Reserve , and

was welcomed by one of many Wrens , singing their hearts out . I was hoping to find Great-crested Grebes displaying , but only found two pairs , one intent on feeding , the other mirroring each other at distance and behind a reedbed . A very quick look in at Willow Hide , as someone had decided to leave their last meal over one end of the hide . The island on the East Lake was noisy , with this pair

of Egyptian Geese evicting the Canadas and Greylags , even though both species are bigger than them . A bit further along the track , another , or the same Jay , allowed me to get a few shots , before

flying off . But even that was eclipsed later , when I spotted a Treecreeper land on a tree just off the track , then fly on to a nearby Ivy clad tree . I waited a while , then it flew back past me , before returning again as before . I made my way to the area that the bird had been heading to , and got the camera ready , albeit not good light and lots of vegetation between , as I didn't want to get too close . The following shots tell their own story :

Assuming I was watching the female , she came backwards and forwards 7/8 times whilst I was there , with different nesting materials , whilst , who I assume was the male , took no notice of me ,

and stood guard on the surrounding trees , at one time landed on a close Elderberry , almost too close for the camera to focus . A few minutes that I will never forget . I moved on , hoping that the pair will

be successful . From Tyler Hide , a fine looking male Shellduck , but no sign of a partner . Whilst out

on the back of the nearest island , 13 Common Snipe , with another 3 just out of the shot . More

Wrens from Slingsby Hide , along with a male Reed Bunting , also singing his heart out . Around the site , Goat Willow , a great early provider of nectar was attracting lots of Bumble Bees , mostly

Buff-tailed , and also another Comma . With the first clouds showing , I headed home , and as I approached the bottom of Poll Hill , could see a Common Buzzard , quartering the adjacent fields . I

managed to get on a quieter lane and got a distant shot , unfortunately into the now milky sun . I

watched and waited , and was eventually rewarded with a better shot , as it turned towards the sun . By the time I got home , the cloud cover was complete .

Tuesday 4th. March 2014

Didn't want to travel too far today , so with Phil / Sharp by Nature posting recently sightings of Water Vole and Bittern recently at Hew Hythe , that's where I headed . As Phil doesn't get down there so often these days , I took the chance , and trespassed onto his patch . I arrived in beautiful sunshine , albeit a bit nippy . Parking at the water treatment plant entrance , I followed two ladies with their dogs along the track towards the bridge over the millstream . They were soon well ahead , and to my

surprise , sitting on the far bank of the ditch was a Water Vole , and I had only been on site for a matter of minutes . I followed it along the ditch as it searched out it's breakfast , taking little notice of me . Eventually , it entered the water , and a few seconds later dived , and that was the last I saw of

it . On the way up to the scrub areas , hope of hearing an early migrant didn't materialise , bit I must admit , birdsong as a whole was rather limited on such a sunny morning . En route , a splash of

colour , along with the Blackthorn/Sloe , this Wild  Cherry / Prunus avium , earlier than usual .
The ditch alongside the scrub areas , which at the moment look more like marshes , provided a

second Water Vole , sat in the sunshine , seemingly contemplating it's own reflection in the water . This one was not so happy to sit and be photographed , swimming to some dead reeds , and

disappearing amongst them , not to be seen again . Crossing the railway line to an almost birdless Abbey Mead and a very muddy trudge between it and the river , produced very little apart from Grey Herons flying to and from their nests on the far bank .Then , as I turned the corner between Abbey Mead and the Sunken Marsh , I was caught red-handed by the man himself , Phil . He too was looking for the Bittern in the area , so we joined forces , searching the reedbed . Phil's younger eyes did get a fleeting glimpse of a Bittern , but I failed to do so . A look at the river produced nothing more than a few gulls and a pair of Teal on the far bank , but later we did see a distant Common Buzzard in the area . A look from the high ground between Abbey Mead and Brooklands didn't refind the Bittern , but further along we found Coltsfoot / Tussilago farfara in flower , probably the second

of the Daisy family to flower after Winter Heliotrope . Very little seen back to the railway crossing , or for that matter , down towards the diver's bridge . We headed towards where I had the second

Water Vole , and a bit further down the ditch , we found a small animal , possibly one of last year's young . This animal performed very well , the cameras continually clicking . A bit later , a larger

animal appeared , possibly a female adult , and after several trips up the bank , returned with nettle leaves ands sat in the open to eat them . This was my fourth animal . We decided to leave the pair in peace , heading back towards the diver's bridge , noticing quite a lot of evidence of Water Voles on the far bank . As we looked at the evidence , Phil noticed the bankside vegetation moving on our side . We slowly worked our way to the area , to find a Water Vole , about a metre up the vegetation ,

looking for fresh leaves . It sat there motionless for about half a minute , before dropping back down to the bank . That one made the day , but it wasn't over yet , for as we walked further along the ditch , we had a small animal , swimming away from us , and only in view for a few seconds , before diving into the bankside vegetation . We both assumed Water Vole , but talking about it later , it was smaller than the youngster seen earlier , and given that the mating season is only just about to start , we thought that it could just have been a Water Shrew . They have been seen in the area in the past , but we will never be certain . We finally got to the diver's bridge , but found nothing there , and a final look for a Bittern at it's usual spot , in previous years , failed too , probably due to the abnormal amount of water in the lake . There we split , Phil heading along the millstream to his car and me back to mine at the other entrance . A very enjoyable few hours , and good to meet up and catch up Phil .