North Downs, DofE, Creepy Crawlies.

We're off to Iceland soon, a girls' trip, so we're in training. Many hilly walks over the North Downs in spite of the rather warm weather. Yesterday was around St Martha's, meeting the inevitable DofE groups, not our own school but oxted school, only a few miles from my own alma mater, sadly now defunct. I was most impressed but the students, keen, most polite & articulate and didn't seem to be lost. Go Oxted!
I did however terrify one group by mentioning a snake, in fact a harmless baby grass snake (Natrix natrix) with more markings than usual. the photo is not brilliant as I spent so long marvelling at it I forgot my camera was handy. It had the very clear yellow and black rings behind its neck, giving its alias of ringed snake.

The weather was perfect and after a late start to the spring the extra water seems to have done wonders for the wildlife, more poppies and butterflies than I've seen for years. The bees are doing better too, armies of bumble bees, sadly not so many honey bees. Maybe at last people are using less pesticides. This nice little chap is a marbled white (Melanargia galathea)

. The specific name refers to Galathea, an ivory statue carved by Pygmalion, who he fell in love with and persuaded Venus/Aphrodite to bring her to life as detailed in Ovid's "Metamorphosis", their son being Paphos. What would he make of Paphos today? Galathea is also a moon of Neptune and a species of squat lobster. Greek mythology gets everywhere, it's interesting to follow up scientific names that are not obviously simple descriptions.

Finally the scenery and poppies (Papaver rhoeas). Not a mythological being this time, just "red". My photos aren't as beautiful as Monet's coquelicots, but pleasing to see.