"Tits Times Two" in the garden.

Its certainly been quite on the bird front in my garden, but all that changed on the 26th of May! We had both Blue and Great Tits bring their young to our bird table in late afternoon. 1st came the Blue Tits at approx. 5.00pm, then when they had gone, along came the Great Tits at approx. 7.00pm. The adult birds seemed to be hounded by their offspring for food, yet were quite capable of finding their own food!

Some photos then, as usual please click on an image to enlarge. By the time the Great Tits arrived, the light was very poor for photos.

PS. To all my fellow bloggers, who like me, found it hard to comment on other peoples blogs, I found that if i unchecked the box that automatically keeps you logged/signed in to your own blog, then it would be possible to leave a comment on other blogs. So lets hope i can do that soon enough!!! cheers.

                                                           Blue Tits1st then.

Next came the Great Tits.

I found this bright green small Moth on my dining room ceiling the same day too, Im not sure what this is, so perhaps that man Dean would be kind enough to ID the moth for me please.

And to finish off, a couple of macro/close up shots of some Hover flies that i found in my garden. I shot these on the 28th of May. I try to focus the lens on the eyes if possible here.

Can you see the Pheasant Chick?!

Can you see the Pheasant Chick? because at the time i took the shot, from the distance i was at, i could only see the Mother. It was only when she moved, that she gave up her secret. I couldnt count them, but I would say that there could have been 6 baby chicks. I had just stumbled on a large grass snake, and was taking shots of that, when i turned 90 Degrees to my right, and saw the pheasant sitting perfectly still, so as i turned to take the 1st shot of her, she ran off into a nearby bush. I thought i saw somethings follow her too, but i didnt realize at first what they were, it wasnt until i looked at the spot that she was sitting down low at, that i saw a chick there(the're were actually 2) but since i was 15 to 20 feet away, i couldnt see the other one.
Was that Grass Snake hoping to take one of those Pheasant chicks?

Some photos then, please click on an image to enlarge, cheers.

PS. All these shots were taken on Friday the 13th, unlucky for some!

Ist shot, and i couldnt see the chick at this stage!

The Mother left 2 chicks behind, but the rest ran with her.

Cropped to show that cute little chick.

I would just like to say that all this happened in seconds, and i soon left the area to enable the Mother to be reunited with all her chicks.

The Grass Snake, and this was large.

I did capture a few tongue shots of the snake too.

Brimstone showing some wing damage.

A couple of Moths for Dean, because i dont know what these are? This 1st moth just wouldnt settle, so its a poor shot, it was quite large, as moths go!

Ive seen a few of these small moths.

Same small moth.

Speckled Yellow moth mating shots.

Still sorting through my early May highlights here. As always, please click on image to enlarge, cheers.

Ive seen a few of these Cardinal beetles around, this one being the black headed variety, and i was lucky enough to capture it in "take off mode".

A well hidden male Slow Worm, showing his blue dots.

I have seen numerous Speckled Yellow moths, but i was pleased to capture some shots of these pair mating.

Two of the 4 Common Lizards i saw that day.

And to finish off, 2 new Adders to add to my year list. The 1st being a Female, which i found basking on a log pile. The 2nd being a male, some distance from the female.

More May highlights.

Just some early May highlights then.

I think this is a Dung beetle? or a Rhino beetle? Either way, it was being overwhelmed by these Wood Ants.

Cinnabar Moth

Swallows gathering nesting materials.

Not sure about this Moth, is it a Mother Shipton?

A couple of Damselfly.

I dropped in on Clare Park lake on the 10th of May, and am happy to say that the pair of Grey Wagtails have returned once more. Lets hope they do not get too disturbed by all the school children, and go on to breed/produce offspring. I did capture some nice shots of the adults feeding their young last year, and am hoping for a repeat this year too.

I think this is the Male, but I saw both birds, and they were constantly calling and chasing each other.

A Coot showed some aggression towards me as i walked by.

Going back to the 3rd of May, i saw 3 separated Bee swarms at Teston, i think these are Honey Bees? and if you look close, there is a larger Bee in this swarm, could it be the Queen Bee? All 3 swarms were within 20 feet of each other, and each swarm was similar in size, i didnt get too close to them!

Black Adder and A Tawny Owl.

Still busy at work, so not enough hours in the day for Blogging, Ive just been stock piling my photos. So its catch up time once again. The 6th of May was indeed a special day for me, not only did i find a black/melanistic adder, i also saw a Tawny owl, amongst other sights too.
I decided to go to my usual reptile area, but this time i took a different track. Halfway down this track, i couldnt really believe my eyes, there was this fantastic black adder basking in the strong sun. I fired off less than 6 shots, but that snake was having none of it, it took off fast into the undergrowth. Down the track i went, only to see a large Grass snake, which also took off fast. Then a few steps further, and about 25 feet to my left, on the ground in the thick woods, was a large Tawny owl. I dont know whether the owl had prey, or it might have an injury, or the woods were just too thick for it to take flight, but all it did was hop/jump and flutter its way deeper into the woods, until it took one last look my way, then it was gone. Needless to say, this all happened in seconds, and despite me trying to capture a photo, i failed!

Some photos of that day then, cheers.

The black Adder looks like a male to me, Greenie could confirm this?

Poor shot of the big Grass snake.

A male Common Blue.

Female Common Blue.

A large Beetle of sorts???( I have never seen one of these before) flew onto me, then dropped to the ground in front of me.

I also saw a very dark female adder(close to the black adder location) and i realize she is in shed/slough, but her markings/colouration appear darker than usual? She was extremely aggressive, and hissed, puffed up, and even thrashed her tail about too!!! I took a few shots of her, but kept my distance, because this snake was not to be messed with.

Here you see her twisting and stretching her whole body(especially her tail end).

Adder courting, mating, combat activities for April.

On the 18th of April i witnessed some great Adder activities. I had found 2 males, and took some shots of them, and i was making my way back down the track, when i was met head on with the 3rd male. This snake was on a mission, and it was travelling at speed, and at one point i thought it was going to go right over my feet! So I followed it back to where the other males were, taking pics of it as it sped onwards. I was amazed by its speed, and also by the distance it had to go(we are talking a couple of 100 feet, easy). When it arrived, it was frantically searching areas, so i crouched down close to the snakes, but if i was honest i was a bit nervous, because i knew there were 3 male Adders within 10 feet of me, all 3 of them were all around me. Then 2 of the males came together for a bit of combat, but broke off before i could even get a single pic. I couldnt locate the female, but there was a very good chance she was close by.
Some photos of the 3 male Adders then.

This is when the 3rd Adder came close to going over my feet!

Then 2 days later on the 20th of April, I returned to the same area and witnessed Adder courtship/mating activities which i had never seen before. It looks like the darkest male had paired off with the female, and although they were hidden in the undergrowth quite well, i still managed to capture some mating shots. The male was moving over the female, and whilst flicking out his tongue, he also appeared to be "drumming" on her too.
Some photos then, cheers.