First female Adder of 2012!

After one of the wettest and coldest Aprils on record I haven’t visited my regular adder site for five weeks so with some half decent weather I decided to pay them a visit today. Early on it was quite cold and windy, during which I saw several Kestrels hovering around and then a large Buzzard (Buteo buteo), this is worrying as I’ve never seen this species around this adder site before and they are big reptile predators and it appears there is a nest close by. As the weather gradually improved I came across a tiny neonate adder (Vipera berus) from last year sitting out in the open. As the weather got better with the wind decreasing and sun coming out I spotted an adult male adder basking next to a pile of stones, I last saw this specimen during the April 2011 heatwave some distance away from here. To finish off the search I came across a nice female, which I regular saw last summer close to the same spot. This is the first female I have seen at this site this year, but wonder if the peak time for mating for the adders this year will be May rather than April which was very cold.

Next week I’m off to Corfu (yes again!) for the Gerald Durrell week with the Durrell School of Corfu, after a horrid month of the coldest April temperatures in 100 years there now seems to be a heatwave. I’ll surely come across some familiar herps on the guided walks so I will be sure to post some photos.

Neonate adder (Vipera berus) (C) Matt Wilson

Neonate adder (Vipera berus) (C) Matt Wilson

Neonate adder (Vipera berus) (C) Matt Wilson

Male adder (Vipera berus) in situ (C) Matt Wilson

Male adder (Vipera berus) in situ (C) Matt Wilson

Female adder (Vipera berus) (C) Matt Wilson

Female adder (Vipera berus) (C) Matt Wilson

Symi trip report

Bad weather conditions for most of the time but some great rewards for our dedicated efforts. See the trip report from Symi here, and my Picasa web album here.

In addition you can see Carl’s report from the trip here and some of Ilias’s photos here

Dwarf snake (Eirenis modestus) (C) Matt Wilson

Back from Symi

Despite some unexpected bad weather (at least 4 wasted days!) I had a great time on Symi and managed a list of 19 species, including a few species on nearby Rhodes. We also recorded a new species of snake for Symi which was a nice bonus. A last minute highlight was finding this beautiful Ottoman viper (Montivipera xanthina) of a metre in length just hours before we left the island. Report on the way soon…

Ottoman viper (Montivipera xanthina) 'Southern form' (C) Matt Wilson

 

Second winter…(Updated 09/04/12)

Over the last week the winter temperatures have returned (bugger!) but today I had a rather pleasant surprise. I did a talk and field walk for the Cheshire Active Naturalist group and after the talk we were able to find 4 Adders, 5-6 Slow worms and a Common lizard despite the relatively cool temperatures and lack of sunshine. Although admittedly temperatures were higher than earlier in the week when a freezing blizzard came out of nowhere. Thanks to the group for listening to me babble on about herps and I’m sure everyone enjoyed managing to see some Adders up close. Thanks to Carl for helping me out with transport and helping to find the animals!

Please see the Cheshire Active Naturalist post on the day, together with some photos by clicking here.

Next week I am off to Symi, however I hadn’t counted on the Orthodox Greek Easter and boat strikes which have altered our plans slightly. Myself and Ilias will now spend our first day and night herping on Rhodes before taking a boat to Symi and Carl will have to join us a little bit later than planned because on Easter Sunday (next week in Greece) there are no boat services from Rhodes at all.

A few (poor) photos from today, as it was more important for me to help others get decent pictures as I already have 247,000 adder and slow worm photos:

A small male Adder (Vipera berus) (C) Matt Wilson

Male Slow worm (Anguis fragilis) (C) Matt Wilson

Habitat shot (C) Matt Wilson

A visit to South Yorkshire!

On Friday I went over to visit Carl in South Yorkshire with the aim of combining herping with some birding. In fact birds turned out to be the highlight of the visit rather than amphibians and reptiles. In the late afternoon we visited a cathedral where a pair of Peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) reside, they were both present and we even saw them mating, as well as the male bringing back a killed Starling. After this nice stop Carl took me to an area where he had recently seen a Little owl (Athene noctua), the owl was there again and by slowly pulling up the car alongside we were able to watch and photograph it. After dark it was time for some herps, although the first thing we saw was a Badger (Meles meles) running along the side of the country road. We wanting to inspect some man made ponds on agricultural land, and the first one delivered around half a dozen Smooth newts (Lissotriton vulgaris), on the way to a second pond we crossed paths with several Common toads (Bufo bufo) and at the pond itself we saw a single male Great crested newt (Triturus cristatus). At a third pond we came across about 20 dead Common frogs (Rana temporaria) which probably died from a sudden frost as the area we were was quite high and cool.  Thankfully some frogs were alive as well as some toads, two Great crested and a few Smooth newts.

Mating Peregrines (C) Matt Wilson

Male Peregrine with kill (C) Matt Wilson

Male Peregrine with killed Starling (C) Matt Wilson

Little owl (Athene noctua) (C) Matt Wilson

Little owl (Athene noctua) (C) Matt Wilson

Curlew (C) Matt Wilson

Common toad (Bufo bufo) (C) Matt Wilson

Great crested newt (Triturus cristatus) as seen 'in situ' (C) Matt Wilson

Great crested newt (Triturus cristatus) as seen 'in situ' (C) Matt Wilson

Smooth newt (Lissotriton vulgaris) (C) Matt Wilson

The next day it was foggy until around 12pm, first we visited a potential new Adder site, no snakes but we found a single male Viviparous lizard (Zootoca vivipara). After this we visited a Slow-worm (Anguis fragilis) site and under some pieces of tin we found a male and a female specimen, this was the earliest Carl had seen them in his area. With the weather improving we dedicated some hours to searching for Grass snakes (Natrix natrix) without any success, but in doing saw we crossed paths with some Kestrels (Falco tinnunculus) and a few Buzzards (Buteo buteo).

Viviparous lizard (Zootoca vivipara) (C) Matt Wilson

Red grouse (Lagopus lagopus) (C) Matt Wilson

Slow worm (Anguis fragilis) (C) Matt Wilson

Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) (C) Matt Wilson

Adders slowly adding up..

After another full day in the field with mixed weather I found the same five male adders (Vipera berus) as in the previous post. But in the end I managed to find a sixth specimen, a beautiful large male which turned out to be a completely new specimen to me. It was found in an area where I found a cast skin last summer, but had never seen a snake there. Great! In a nearby woodland several Tawny owls (Strix aluco) were calling during the daytime, and I saw numerous Ravens (Corvus corax) however sadly I couldn’t get a second look at the Goshawk (Accipter gentilis) I saw a few weeks ago soaring over the area. I also disturbed several Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) as I was walking through the vegetation.

Adder (Vipera berus) (C) Matt Wilson

Adder (Vipera berus) (C) Matt Wilson

Adder (Vipera berus) (C) Matt Wilson

Adder (Vipera berus) (C) Matt Wilson

A new Adder (Vipera berus) for me! (C) Matt Wilson

A small, ever present male Adder (Vipera berus) (C) Matt Wilson

Adder (Vipera berus) (C) Matt Wilson

 

 

A first real spring day

Today with the sun out and an elevated temperature of around 12C, I ventured back to my most local Adder site. After spending the entire day from 8 30am to 5pm at this fragmented population I was somewhat disappointed to only find 5 male specimens, however on the bright side 2 of these were new specimens to me. In such perfect weather, clear skies and no wind I really hoped I would find more, but unfortunately this population is highly fragmented and I wish I could do more to help keep the population going in an area of the UK where Adders have almost completely disappeared because of people. In addition Common frogs (Rana temporaria) were breeding in shallow water sources around the site, and I saw a male Sparrowhawk (Accipter nisus) and a Kestrel (Falco tinnuculus).

Male adder (Vipera berus)

Male adder (Vipera berus)

Male adder (Vipera berus)

Male adder (Vipera berus)

Two Male adders basking on top of one another

Male adder (Vipera berus)

Male adder (Vipera berus)

Male adder (Vipera berus)

Male adder (Vipera berus)

Common frogs (Rana temporaria)

Young Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)

And so the madness begins….

Today I visited my regular spot for Adders (Vipera berus) as males usually start their activity around this time if there is sufficient sunshine and a slight increase in temperature. The weather was cold and wet and after hours of searching I found nothing, eventually after spending all day (7 hours!!!!) in the field I found two male adders. The first of 2012! Some other interesting observations from the day were several Deer, and a sadly dead on road Badger.

Additionally, by comparing photos of specimens from this site I have seen this male before, in April last year, but quite far from where he was today.

Male Adder (Vipera berus) (C) Matt Wilson 2012

Male Adder (Vipera berus) (C) Matt Wilson 2012

Male Adder (Vipera berus) (C) Matt Wilson 2012

Male Adder (Vipera berus) (C) Matt Wilson 2012

''Oh no that idiot is back with his camera again''

On Thursday night the weather was very mild and drizzling so I thought this could trigger the explosive breeding  of Common frogs at a pond in my village. This results in carnage as they pile out of a drystone wall and into the road. Thankfully this is a country road so not too much traffic, but it only takes one car to kill dozens of them. However, on this occasion they had not yet emerged, but instead I found about 30 Palmate newts (Lissotriton helveticus) crossing the road to the pond, I of course moved them all and only one had been run over.

Male Palmate newt (Lissotriton helveticus) (C) Matt Wilson 2012

Female Palmate newt (Lissotriton helveticus) (C) Matt Wilson 2012

FemalePalmate newt (Lissotriton helveticus) (C) Matt Wilson 2012

Palmate newts (Lissotriton helveticus) (C) Matt Wilson 2012

2012 herp trips, plans so far..

Whereas last winter I had two herp trips to see me through the dark, dreary season, this time I have had none, therefore more so than usual I am very excited about spring 2012. My plans are starting to take shape now:

April: A Dodecanese voyage to the islands of Symi and Rhodes to see some old friends (human and reptilian) together with my favourite Greek Ilias Strachnis, and hopefully also Carl Corbidge. Symi is an island I know well, and one of many reasons for a return visit is the presence of Ottoman vipers (Montivipera xanthina), as well as some other ‘Asian’ snake species not found elsewhere in Europe. Depending on weather conditions we may also try to get a boat to Kastellorizo in search of it’s beautiful Luschan’s salamanders (Lyciasalamandra luschani).

May/June: First, Corfu (again!) but only for the second time with the Durrell School of Corfu for the ‘Gerald Durrell’s Corfu’ week. And almost immediately after this, a trip to the beautiful island of Corsica as a group of 4 to be sure we find all of the island’s endemic species.

Summer: Either an Iberian trip, or I may go crazy and have a ‘normal’ holiday.

Gerald Durrell’s Corfu 2012!