More (better) late summer herping.

Matt Wilson wanted to do a final bit of herping before he throws himself into his new teaching job. So I picked him up at 10 and because it was drizzling and dull we headed for a Slow Worm site. We quickly found 5 including a big gravid female. From here we went up onto the moors where I quickly spotted a Grass Snake followed by a Female Adder a couple of yards away. Alan Heeley and chums turned up and then Matt spotted a new born Adder and then between us we found 7 more. I found another female Grass Snake, we spotted another female Adder and Alan nearly stood on a male. Alan showed us his favourite spot for Lizards and indeed we saw about 10. There were also a few interesting insect sightings. All in all one of the best late summer herping days to date.

All Photos © Carl Corbidge

Female Slow Worm

Female Adder

 New Born Adder

New born Adder

Juvenile Common Lizard

 2 Common Lizards

 Female Grass Snake

 Caterpillar Spp  ? Buff Tip

 Female Common Hawker

Elephant Hawk Moth Caterpillar

Late Summer Herps

I realised the other day that I've only seen one Grass Snake this year, so I headed out the other day with the intention of correcting that. I managed to find 3 although 2 had the old ready to shed blue eye. I've also seen the first new born lizard of the year, plus a few palmates and common toad.

Beeping Toads

On Friday night I took Liam Russell to see the local population of Midwife Toads Alytes obstetricans. Again thanks to Alan Mosley for allowing us to search through his garden. Conditions were damp so ideal and there seemed to be more than usual calling, maybe as a result of a couple of mild winters and good summers. This time we found a couple of males carrying eggs, one fairly new and the second with well developed tadpoles inside complete with visable eyes. There were also a few common frogs and a common toad.