Northern Counties Adder Special

Together with Lancastrian stalwart Matt Wilson we had an extended weekend going to several new spots to look for adders and any other wildlife of interest. We had 5 spots in mind, 1 in Derbyshire, 1 in South Yorkshire, 1 in North Lincolnshire and 2 in Lancashire. 2 of these are our regular local adder spots and the other 3 we hadn't been to before. In the event we found adders in four of the 5. With 11 or 12 in Derbyshire, 3 in South Yorkshire, 12 in Lancs and failed in Lincs probably because it was too warm. Along the way we had a few Common Lizards and a single skinny Grass Snake. A nocturnal visit to some small ponds revealed the most G C Newts I have seen there (30+) and interestingly ones in a murky clay bottomed pond were an unusual orange colour but ones 20 yards away in a weedy pond were normal. I don't know if they have a colour change ability like some other amphibians do but that's the only explanation I can think of. At one site we flushed a fox, for those folk who like foxes you might want to check (if you pay membership to any of the big conservation bodies) their policy on foxes as you might be surprised how many cull foxes, that's one of the reasons I'm not a member of any. How can they lecture other people for killing wildlife, when morally they are doing exactly the same thing and often the rationale is the same?. In my opinion we need more foxes to cull the plague of pheasants that seem to be everywhere at the minute (a non native species that has a negative impact on native reptiles) (Rant Over).

 First 3 Yorkshire males

 Next 3 Derbyshire males with 3 together and the first a nice freshly shed bluey

 Lancashire female

 Lancashire Males

 Lancashire  female and below Lancs pair

 

 

video of courtship

 

 Common Frog taddies

 Unusual G C Newts

 A more normal coloured Male

 

Grass Snake in need of a meal

 

Adder Numbers Build

As we approach April female adders start to link up with males but there always seems to be a disproportionate number of males to female at my sites. Anyway a female was in close association with a large male and I managed to get my first photos of Common Lizard this year.

 female above males below

 female adder

male and female adder

 male adders

 male and female crossbill

 little grebe

 little owl

2 barred crossbill

A March Hotchbotch Of Species.

After My trip to Cyprus I've been out trying to see/photograph various wildlife. Adder Vipera berus counts have been a bit frustrating with a maximum of 15 over the weekend 15th -16th but it got too warm on the Sunday and it was all over by 11am, whereas on the Saturday when Matt came over the weather didn't look that promising but picked up in the afternoon and we scraped together 12 including a big male (an old friend) with a stumpy tail. I then went to try and get better photos of the Mountain Hares Lepus timidus because previously the weather hasn't been great when I got on to the top of the peaks. My pair of Little Owls Athene noctua are back in situ, Curlew Numenius arquata  and Lapwing Vanellus vanellus are back on their breeding grounds, and a surprise were 7 Whooper Swans Cygnus cygnus on Strines Reservoir.

Male Adders

 

Common Frog

Curlew

Lapwing

Mountain Hares

 

Whooper Swans

For the whole of last week I was on a course with work that took place in Edinburgh. I had heard of a place on my drive up that was good for Red Squirrel Sciurus vulgaris. Anyway I saw 2 but the light was poor so only got a couple of decent shots. Edinburgh as well as being a very nice city, has some great wildlife within a short distance. I didn't get much free time but managed to get to the coast near Musselburgh where I saw lots of sea ducks (although generally distant). I then stayed a extra night to try and get better photos of the squirrels (which I did) I also found my first female adder of the year and my first ever in County Durham.

 Female Adder

 Long Tailed Duck

 Mute Swan

 Red Breasted Merganser

 Tufted Duck

 Velvet Scoter and with LT Duck below