I wasn't working today, but decided to do what I do when I'm working anyway. Except this time, apart from catching, recording, weighing, taking DNA, surface temperatures and recording every other minute scientific detail. I thought I'd just go out and photograph stuff in their natural environment, doing what they do. Undisturbed. A relaxing day with no pressure.
An old haunt of mine. Not as great as it was for reptiles 10 or 20 years ago and getting worse. But they are there. Even my favourites - adders.
How do I know. Says so here...
Off to the lowland heath...
Awww, cute juvenile Common toad. Last years by the look of him...
Not long till I find the first adder. Roughly a three year old female....
An old adult male. Flattening himself in the overcast weather so as to increase heat absorbtion...
I watched him for a while as he was beautiful. He noticed me after a while and was gone like a whipcrack...
Another young female disappearing as I walk past...
There are a load of dog walkers around this area, and these adders are some of the shyest and quickest to flee that I've ever recorded. This is a typical spotting. An adult female. At this time of year the females retreat underground for a couple of weeks as they prepare to give birth to their live young, but some are still out as they only reproduce every two to three years. It's physically draining for them and it takes that long to recover - some don't in time for winter. I was predicting a late birth for the snakes this year due to the cool and very wet weather. Adders, unlike grass snakes, don't lay eggs but give birth to live young. Not good as any delay means little chance of surviving the oncoming colder weather. Anyway, back to that female. This is a typical sighting, you spot it almost too late and then it bolts very quickly before you have chance to see much. This is how most encounters transpire when you move normally and without much stealth. That's why the pics are a tad blurry - sorry....
This last one is blurred because she is moving so fast. The last third of her body didn't even have contact with the ground because of the speed she was going. You can also see how short and stubby the tail is on females. Males are longer and more slender. Often with a penal bulge if mature...
Quite a few slow worms out too. Hunting the grey slugs in the wet grass. They love those grey slugs. This one is a juvenile of a year or so old...
That's when I spotted the best news ever. A neonate adder, just newly born within a few days and basking in the open. This is great news as a late birth would mean less animals surviving hibernation. Plenty of time for him/her to bulk up on all of those lizards out there. Neonate adders are tiny, about teh size of a small pencil with roundish, kiddy heads. Very hard to spot as they are only the size of a ten pence piece when curled up.....
Then an adult slow worm out and about and quite active for them...
Another adder tail bolting for cover before I could sex or age it...
And - wooHOO, another neonate...
A big old male....
As the sun came out, so did the legged lizards...
I moved to another area so I didn't disturb them further. I found a young male adder as I nearly stepped on him. Good job my brain works before my eyes. I actually stopped before I knew I'd seen him. You do that alot when you've been doing this for a while. You can see his head detecting me and looking right up in the second pic...
Along with pheasants, these fellas are the scourge of the neonate adder...
It was starting to get warm and sunny. Snakes actually start to go into hiding as the weather gets sunny. They warm up quickly and get enough energy to go hunt and do snakey stuff. Lizards are still about, but wicked fast. Again I moved to another area more shaded and less exposed. I found a few adders here, but they were off before I could get decent piccies...
Well all except this little neonate. More good news from a different colony. Things may not be as bad as I predicted they would be this year....
After having a quick MOD ration lunch. I sheltered from a bit of rain and headed off again. The sun had gone in and it was almost 1400hrs. Still good for another couple of hours if I was lucky. I was. This is a very very very old male. His head was huge and so were the venom glands. He was out in the open and had little to fear from most predators. It's difficult to age snakes, but their heads seem to get bigger behind the eyes with age. At a rough guess, I'd say this one had seen a couple of decades....
That was the last of the snakes for me. A few more slow worms were about because of the rain enticing the slugs out...
Caught some Fallow out grazing on my way back. Cool relaxing day.
An old haunt of mine. Not as great as it was for reptiles 10 or 20 years ago and getting worse. But they are there. Even my favourites - adders.
How do I know. Says so here...
Off to the lowland heath...
Awww, cute juvenile Common toad. Last years by the look of him...
Not long till I find the first adder. Roughly a three year old female....
An old adult male. Flattening himself in the overcast weather so as to increase heat absorbtion...
I watched him for a while as he was beautiful. He noticed me after a while and was gone like a whipcrack...
Another young female disappearing as I walk past...
There are a load of dog walkers around this area, and these adders are some of the shyest and quickest to flee that I've ever recorded. This is a typical spotting. An adult female. At this time of year the females retreat underground for a couple of weeks as they prepare to give birth to their live young, but some are still out as they only reproduce every two to three years. It's physically draining for them and it takes that long to recover - some don't in time for winter. I was predicting a late birth for the snakes this year due to the cool and very wet weather. Adders, unlike grass snakes, don't lay eggs but give birth to live young. Not good as any delay means little chance of surviving the oncoming colder weather. Anyway, back to that female. This is a typical sighting, you spot it almost too late and then it bolts very quickly before you have chance to see much. This is how most encounters transpire when you move normally and without much stealth. That's why the pics are a tad blurry - sorry....
This last one is blurred because she is moving so fast. The last third of her body didn't even have contact with the ground because of the speed she was going. You can also see how short and stubby the tail is on females. Males are longer and more slender. Often with a penal bulge if mature...
Quite a few slow worms out too. Hunting the grey slugs in the wet grass. They love those grey slugs. This one is a juvenile of a year or so old...
That's when I spotted the best news ever. A neonate adder, just newly born within a few days and basking in the open. This is great news as a late birth would mean less animals surviving hibernation. Plenty of time for him/her to bulk up on all of those lizards out there. Neonate adders are tiny, about teh size of a small pencil with roundish, kiddy heads. Very hard to spot as they are only the size of a ten pence piece when curled up.....
Then an adult slow worm out and about and quite active for them...
Another adder tail bolting for cover before I could sex or age it...
And - wooHOO, another neonate...
A big old male....
As the sun came out, so did the legged lizards...
I moved to another area so I didn't disturb them further. I found a young male adder as I nearly stepped on him. Good job my brain works before my eyes. I actually stopped before I knew I'd seen him. You do that alot when you've been doing this for a while. You can see his head detecting me and looking right up in the second pic...
Along with pheasants, these fellas are the scourge of the neonate adder...
It was starting to get warm and sunny. Snakes actually start to go into hiding as the weather gets sunny. They warm up quickly and get enough energy to go hunt and do snakey stuff. Lizards are still about, but wicked fast. Again I moved to another area more shaded and less exposed. I found a few adders here, but they were off before I could get decent piccies...
Well all except this little neonate. More good news from a different colony. Things may not be as bad as I predicted they would be this year....
After having a quick MOD ration lunch. I sheltered from a bit of rain and headed off again. The sun had gone in and it was almost 1400hrs. Still good for another couple of hours if I was lucky. I was. This is a very very very old male. His head was huge and so were the venom glands. He was out in the open and had little to fear from most predators. It's difficult to age snakes, but their heads seem to get bigger behind the eyes with age. At a rough guess, I'd say this one had seen a couple of decades....
That was the last of the snakes for me. A few more slow worms were about because of the rain enticing the slugs out...
Caught some Fallow out grazing on my way back. Cool relaxing day.
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well done managing to capture so many with photos too 
