Next week anyone up for herping?: |
Author | Message |
arvensis Senior Member Joined: 15 Mar 2006 No. of posts: 445 View other posts by arvensis |
Posted: 05 Sep 2007 Hi all, I'm off all of next week and wondering if anyone is up for a bit of herping., Cheers, Mark Hampshire Amphibian and Reptile Group. |
st rick Senior Member Joined: 26 Apr 2006 No. of posts: 141 View other posts by st rick |
Posted: 06 Sep 2007 Hi Mark I can manage Wed and Thur during the day, but have to be back in London by 6.00 PM. Where do you fancy going? Rick |
arvensis Senior Member Joined: 15 Mar 2006 No. of posts: 445 View other posts by arvensis |
Posted: 06 Sep 2007 Thursday will be best for me.. as for somewhere to go, I'm thinking on that. Any suggestions? Mark Hampshire Amphibian and Reptile Group. |
st rick Senior Member Joined: 26 Apr 2006 No. of posts: 141 View other posts by st rick |
Posted: 06 Sep 2007 How about your stomping ground: The Woolmer Forest? |
arvensis Senior Member Joined: 15 Mar 2006 No. of posts: 445 View other posts by arvensis |
Posted: 06 Sep 2007 That's a possibility- am thinking of other sites as well. Mark Hampshire Amphibian and Reptile Group. |
arvensis Senior Member Joined: 15 Mar 2006 No. of posts: 445 View other posts by arvensis |
Posted: 07 Sep 2007 How about Lightwater and maybe another site somewhere nearby? Mark Hampshire Amphibian and Reptile Group. |
st rick Senior Member Joined: 26 Apr 2006 No. of posts: 141 View other posts by st rick |
Posted: 07 Sep 2007 Mark, your PM box is full again. I can't reply to your PM with suggestions. Rick |
arvensis Senior Member Joined: 15 Mar 2006 No. of posts: 445 View other posts by arvensis |
Posted: 07 Sep 2007 Problem solved - you should be able to PM me now. Cheers, Mark Hampshire Amphibian and Reptile Group. |
st rick Senior Member Joined: 26 Apr 2006 No. of posts: 141 View other posts by st rick |
Posted: 11 Sep 2007 To Whom it May Concern On Thursday, September 13th, at 10.30 am, Arvensis, Paul and I are meeting at the Hurtwood Inn in Peaslake, Surrey in order to indulge in a spot of herpetological perambulation. Others are most cordially invited to attend. We hope to visit one of the finest sites in all Surrey for Coronella Austriaca and, most expectedly, Natrix. In addition, Berus might possibly be in attendance. After this, a second site could also be visited, this one has yet to be decided. RSVP or show up on the day. St Rick
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AndyS Senior Member Joined: 26 Aug 2007 No. of posts: 95 View other posts by AndyS |
Posted: 11 Sep 2007 Well St Rick, much as I would like to partake I Bly well have to cover for 3 Guys at work this week Maybe I could phone in Oh well
Of course if someone turns up in a black Astra with Iguanas on a tee shirt that will be Me!!
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Ophiuchus Member Joined: 04 Jan 2007 No. of posts: 44 View other posts by Ophiuchus |
Posted: 22 Sep 2007 Hi, I went along with Arvensis and met Paul Rick and Carl for a good days herping. We found 5 smooth snakes, which had a taste for human flesh! saw the tail of a grass snake, he was under a tin with a smooth snake but slithered away quickly, we also saw a few common lizards and possibly a sand lizard, i got a few nice pics which i will post when i figure how to resize them, so all in all it was a very good day and it was nice to meet others with a passion for our reptilian and amphibian freinds! look forward to meeting up again sometime. Jay Ophiuchus *~*the serpent bearer*~* |
Ophiuchus Member Joined: 04 Jan 2007 No. of posts: 44 View other posts by Ophiuchus |
Posted: 22 Sep 2007 Ophiuchus *~*the serpent bearer*~* |
Ophiuchus Member Joined: 04 Jan 2007 No. of posts: 44 View other posts by Ophiuchus |
Posted: 22 Sep 2007 good i have figured how to add pics here! so this is a common lizard that is shedding its skin, you can see the collar of loose skin round its neck, he was quite happy to let me stick my lens almost on top of him! Ophiuchus *~*the serpent bearer*~* |
Ophiuchus Member Joined: 04 Jan 2007 No. of posts: 44 View other posts by Ophiuchus |
Posted: 22 Sep 2007 Mhhhh tasty knuckle! A smooth snake snacking on marks hand!, just before Mark was saying how he had never been bitten by a smooth snake, or any snake for that matter, well i think we all got bit that day, i didnt think it was that painfull, although i think i must have tough skin as i got bit a few times and it never drew blood, whereas it did make mark and paul bleed, or maybe i just wasnt as tasty so it didnt bite me hard! Ophiuchus *~*the serpent bearer*~* |
Ophiuchus Member Joined: 04 Jan 2007 No. of posts: 44 View other posts by Ophiuchus |
Posted: 22 Sep 2007 One more pic! Ophiuchus *~*the serpent bearer*~* |
mikeyc_123 Member Joined: 02 Sep 2005 No. of posts: 7 View other posts by mikeyc_123 |
Posted: 22 Sep 2007 Fantasic pics!!!! Although I would love to hear how painful the bite was! I am thinking of going off for a day near a few ponds in Desborough (Northamptonshire) to see what I can find. There have been many reports of great crested newts round here and I have lots of common newts in my garden. The ponds near by were created in 2003 due to the construction of a new road link (A6) and so far I have seen fish in the ponds but no newts... but... I want to find some snakes. Would I be best to look away from the ponds or just in thick undergrowth? I dont really want to find an adder as I would like to handle one but from the pics I think I will take a nice thick pair of leather gloves just in case I find an angry smooth!!
Cheers
Mike |
Ophiuchus Member Joined: 04 Jan 2007 No. of posts: 44 View other posts by Ophiuchus |
Posted: 22 Sep 2007 Thanks! As i said i didnt think the bites hurt at all,, im not sure wherever some snakes bites hurt more than others, i should imagine the bigger a snake is it has bigger teeth so may hurt more, or maybe when i was bit the snake wasnt using full biting pressure, i think it knew that i wasnt its prey, so maybe it just gave me a warning nip rather than trully biting hard like it was trying to kill its prey. when i got bit i wanted to take a pic of me being bitten but the smooth snake didnt want to obligue and released its bite evertime i tried to get a pic, although it was happy to let me take pics of it biting my freind! one thing to remember is if you are bitten you cant pull your hand away as you risk breaking the snakes teeth, you you just have to wait for it to let go. You may possibly find grass snakes if you have ponds near you, they eat frogs and newts so if you have them theres a good chance of grass snakes being there, ide say look in the undergrowth near the ponds, look for open areas with long vegetation close by, they like to bask in the open areas but there will always be somewhere they can quickly slither away into safety,you have no need to worry about finding a angry smooth snake as they only occur in Hampshire, Surrey and Dorset. Ophiuchus *~*the serpent bearer*~* |
Suzi Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 No. of posts: 860 View other posts by Suzi |
Posted: 23 Sep 2007 It's probably here on the forum somewhere but some of our native snake bites can hurt - draw blood. I think someone - Tony Phelps? - also mentioned there might be an infection get in which makes the bite very sore indeed with swelling etc. I'm not talking about adder bites here as they are obviously something to avoid anyway!
Suz |
Ophiuchus Member Joined: 04 Jan 2007 No. of posts: 44 View other posts by Ophiuchus |
Posted: 23 Sep 2007 I was wondering if snakes can pass on diseases, like if a snake were to bite a rat or something carrying weils disease , can it pass it on to humans? Ophiuchus *~*the serpent bearer*~* |
AGILIS Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 No. of posts: 694 View other posts by AGILIS |
Posted: 24 Sep 2007 Hi all great ca shots ,the greatest part of it is that the smooth snake is still surviving in these cenral parts of southern England as a lot more heathland in dorset is still under threat from developers at least the Surrey heaths have some form of protection from the NT.The biggest danger will come if the MOD sell of parts for housing and industrial parks. keith LOCAL ICYNICAL CELTIC ECO WARRIOR AND FAILED DRUID |
- Next week anyone up for herping? |