Tuesday, 25 March 2014

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



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5 comments:

  1. Alan Hewitt9 April 2014 at 08:06

    Hi Carl

    We met briefly at the Pow Hill site when you were photographing the reds and very kindly showed my kids the adder! Thanks again - they are still telling their friends about finding a venomous snake!

    Regards
    Alan

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    Replies
    1. Carl Corbidge9 April 2014 at 12:48

      Cheers Alan hopefully your kids saw the squirrels as well. I've spoken to our local recorder and he knows the reptile recorder from that area and apparently the adders aren't doing too well at Pow Hill there seems to be a lack of males, fingers crossed that they have just been overlooked.

      Delete
  2. Paul Foster17 April 2014 at 03:38

    Nice to meet up with you earlier this week Carl,some cracking photos on show here,love the mountain hair shots,really wetted my appetite for later on in the year,catch up with you soon!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Carl Corbidge17 April 2014 at 09:42

    Cheers Paul thanks for the comments nice to chat with someone whose as enthusiastic as us. I will send you a google earth image of the best site for mountain hares via pm.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cupcake Recipes25 May 2023 at 01:37

    Thanks for writing this

    ReplyDelete

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