 |
|
|
Adder 2007!: |
| Author | Message |
|
GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090  View other posts by GemmaJF |
Posted: 02 Mar 2007 Hi all, thought I would kick-off a new adder piccy thread for 2007 as the old one takes a bit of time to wade through. Good day today, 15 adult male adders at my local site + 1 sub-adult and 2 adult male Vb and 2 Lv at an adjacent site. This guy is now an old friend, third year in succession.
Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant |
|
james4 Senior Member Joined: 13 Nov 2006 No. of posts: 466  View other posts by james4 |
Posted: 02 Mar 2007 brill were was these taken at? http://ukreptiles.proboards55.com |
|
GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090 View other posts by GemmaJF |
Posted: 02 Mar 2007 Somewhere in Essex James Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant |
|
james4 Senior Member Joined: 13 Nov 2006 No. of posts: 466 View other posts by james4 |
Posted: 02 Mar 2007 lol not saying site.its ok i understand. yes beautiful. http://ukreptiles.proboards55.com |
|
GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090 View other posts by GemmaJF |
Posted: 02 Mar 2007 Hi James, if you were ever in East Anglia I would be happy to take you over to the site, I just don't really want to draw attention to it as the snakes have enough problems with unsympathetic management. Jon C, Have the management team (BW) been advised to put in brash piles near the main hibernacula? There seems to be several piles that have appeared. If this is the annual 'bonfire' than this year they must be stopped. There are snakes using and adjacent to the piles. Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant |
|
Alex2 Senior Member Joined: 16 Dec 2006 No. of posts: 266  View other posts by Alex2 |
Posted: 02 Mar 2007 [QUOTE=GemmaJF] Hi James, if you were ever in East Anglia I would be happy to take you over to the site, I just don't really want to draw attention to it as the snakes have enough problems with unsympathetic management. Jon C, Have the management team (BW) been advised to put in brash piles near the main hibernacula? There seems to be several piles that have appeared. If this is the annual 'bonfire' than this year they must be stopped. There are snakes using and adjacent to the piles. [/QUOTE] I noticed there was a large fire on Ballard Down nr Corfe Castle today, whoever was responsible burnt a LARGE area of gorse as I watched this fire from the window of the pub I work at. Surely March is not an ideal time for such land management?...Wouldn't Dartford Warblers etc be nesting (?), not to mention the Vb's etc that would of been out in this mornings sunshine... Edit. Maybe a touch early for birds nesting I suppose, but certainly still a dangerous time for emerging reptiles. |
|
james4 Senior Member Joined: 13 Nov 2006 No. of posts: 466 View other posts by james4 |
Posted: 02 Mar 2007 thanks gemma ill remmeber that if im ever down there, thanks. http://ukreptiles.proboards55.com |
|
Peter Vaughan Senior Member Joined: 21 Mar 2005 No. of posts: 170 View other posts by Peter Vaughan |
Posted: 02 Mar 2007 Nice one (or eighteen!) Gemma. I had high hopes for today, starting off as it did with bright blue sky and rapidly rising temperature. But the weather didn't quite deliver in the end, not getting above 11C and clouding over by the time I was able to check my local Adder site early this afternoon. So still no Adders this year for me and no Common Lizards or Slow Worms yet under the refugia which Mark and I put down at Christmas. My first and only reptile sighting this year was a Common Lizard at an adjacent site in mid-January. But there was a pristine Red Admiral butterfly out in the garden this morning, flying around the cherry tree blossom. Peter
Peter Vaughan |
|
John Newton Senior Member Joined: 19 May 2005 No. of posts: 151 View other posts by John Newton |
Posted: 02 Mar 2007 Hi Gemma Of your 15 males, how many of these habitually emerge at exaactly the same locations each year (if you know !) We have a Derbyshire site which showed a dramatic decline last year, but which is showing some signs of recovery this year - or so it seems. It may just be that new animals are moving into available territory at hibernation time. John Newton South Yorkshire ARG |
|
armata Forum Specialist Joined: 05 Apr 2006 No. of posts: 928 View other posts by armata |
Posted: 02 Mar 2007 Hi Gemma, I know you don't handle your adders but how far are you with your head/pattern IDs? It will surprise many how easy they are individually recognised after a while. See who is mating with who etc etc. 'I get my kicks on Route 62' |
|
GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090 View other posts by GemmaJF |
Posted: 02 Mar 2007 Hi Peter, it was luck today, I was looking at tomorrow but when I crawled out of bed this morning the sun was bright, no breeze and I was out of the house as quickly as I could. Now it is raining and the wind is howling outside. John, I would say at this site we have one main area, comprising of three distinct hibernation hot spots that are all part of one continuous bank. I'm confident that all these animals hibernate here habitually. The sub-adult was a surprise though as I have not seen any with the adult males at this site before but it confirms recruitment. There are also individuals in scattered locations, if only I could get good ID pictures from this site (see below) because it isn't clear to me if these are early dispersals or animals emerging from discreet hibernacula. Tony, I'm back up to speed with handling, unfortunately we have 'issues' at this site and I have no official permit for working on the site. This rules out handling and good quality ID shot, mainly because of the nature of the bank which provides ideal conditions for mosaic basking, getting good shots of the heads is almost impossible without capture. I've now got quite a few individuals at this site that I can reconise from a distance though and a few with photo ID but it is difficult to be consistent without being able to collect full data. Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant |
|
Peter Vaughan Senior Member Joined: 21 Mar 2005 No. of posts: 170 View other posts by Peter Vaughan |
Posted: 03 Mar 2007 Thanks for the encouragement Gemma. Since this morning again had clear blue skies I followed your implicit advice to get out earlier and was at my local site by 10:15. I was rewarded by my first Adder sighting of the year. Readings from a local weather station were 9C and 70% humidity, the Adder was in one of the usual basking spots, sheltered from the light wind. It gave me an opportunity to try out by new Nikon D80 SLR and Sigma 105mm macro lens. I'll need some time to learn to get the best out of the new kit, but at least today I had a subject who was prepared to let me photograph him at a distance of less than 1 meter (kneeling in mud - we suffer for our art!).
Peter Peter Vaughan |
|
herpetologic2 Senior Member Joined: 15 Jun 2004 No. of posts: 1369  View other posts by herpetologic2 |
Posted: 03 Mar 2007 Hi Gemma Yeah I recognise that individual aswell - Gemma can I ask a favour could you send me your counts over the last three years - I have got such data from several sites in Essex and I would like to compare this data with the data from your local site. We will be organising a walk around the site in a few weeks - we have also spoken to the management team (well Barry) and the piles of stuff are picked up by hand and onto the burning area which you recorded before - so they should not be setting fire to the piles rather they pick this up piece by piece onto the fire - legally we cannot stop them from doing this as they are technically being careful (I hope) to avoid any injury or death to the adders I am thinking of turning up to any work parties so that I can supervise the burn if they will be burning - we are still working on getting into the WT good books - we still havent been granted a license to capture animals but we can survey for adders by just walking around the permission paths - as it is common land we can walk pretty much anywhere and we can record numbers without a license - so adult counts are fine. If you could send in your counts that would be great I have counts for several sites over 3 to 4 years - all credit will be acknowledged to you in any publication - no locations will be highlighted just general site descriptions etc
Jon Vice Chair of ARG UK - self employed consultant - visit ARG UK & Alresford Wildlife |
|
herpetologic2 Senior Member Joined: 15 Jun 2004 No. of posts: 1369 View other posts by herpetologic2 |
Posted: 03 Mar 2007 Great Peter Keep a count of the adders you see - I havent forgotten I have some tins for you ready and waiting perhaps we could meet up soon? I haven't seen my first adder yet of the year - it would be good to see the ones at your local site Cheers
Jon Vice Chair of ARG UK - self employed consultant - visit ARG UK & Alresford Wildlife |
|
Peter Vaughan Senior Member Joined: 21 Mar 2005 No. of posts: 170 View other posts by Peter Vaughan |
Posted: 03 Mar 2007 Thanks Jon. Re the tins I'd be happy to come to you to collect if that would be convenient. I would of course be happy to meet up at my local site - it would need to be at the weekend (I'm free tomorrow but I gather the weather forecast is not good). If I'm not around then the Adder was in the area I pointed out when we met up last year. Just the one animal today - I managed a reasonable back of the head shot (photograph that is!) so with luck will be able to recognise the individual again. I appreciate the help and encouragement. Peter
Peter Vaughan |
|
GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090 View other posts by GemmaJF |
Posted: 03 Mar 2007 Wow superb photo Peter, I was in mud and brambles to get my shot yesterday also Jon burning this material in close proximity to the main hibernation bank is insane. Further the material could be deployed usefully on the site, less than 20m away as a brash pile. Can we see this happen? There are snakes literally sat beside these piles and I find this approach by the management team extremely short sighted. This will be the third year in succession that they have had a bonfire close to the adder hibernation bank during spring emergence. It is ridiculous.
Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant |
|
GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090 View other posts by GemmaJF |
Posted: 03 Mar 2007 Jon take a look at this photograph from yesterday. To the right is the 'bonfire' pile. Spot what is sitting right next to it arrowed.
Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant |
|
herpetologic2 Senior Member Joined: 15 Jun 2004 No. of posts: 1369 View other posts by herpetologic2 |
Posted: 03 Mar 2007
Okay Gemma We will see what we can do
Jon Vice Chair of ARG UK - self employed consultant - visit ARG UK & Alresford Wildlife |
|
GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090 View other posts by GemmaJF |
Posted: 03 Mar 2007 Jon, If we can move this material rather than burn it, I would be more than happy to turn up and do my share building the habitat pile. I know exactly where it would be best placed. There needs to be some compensation at this site, this way it costs nothing and protects the snakes from being caught up in the bonfire at the same time. Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant |
|
herpetologic2 Senior Member Joined: 15 Jun 2004 No. of posts: 1369 View other posts by herpetologic2 |
Posted: 03 Mar 2007 Hi Gemma I agree I think that we can arrange one weekend to put the brash pile in.... didnt the National Trust suggest that there was no burning on the site.... The pile you photographed will be hand fed onto the bonfire could that be controlled or is this too much heat? Jon Vice Chair of ARG UK - self employed consultant - visit ARG UK & Alresford Wildlife |
- Adder 2007! |
