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Adder Pics 2008: |
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Alan Hyde Senior Member Joined: 17 Apr 2003 No. of posts: 1416  View other posts by Alan Hyde |
Posted: 09 Jan 2008 Just getting excited, thought i'd get this thread ready in preperation. 
Only one month to go !  O-> O+> |
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Suzi Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 No. of posts: 860 View other posts by Suzi |
Posted: 09 Jan 2008 On the starting blocks?! I've just had a look in my pond as some people seem to start getting frogs and spawn in January. Nothing stirring here though. Suz |
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Dan Kane Senior Member Joined: 30 Dec 2005 No. of posts: 201  View other posts by Dan Kane |
Posted: 09 Jan 2008 Unreal, I'll be able to post pics in this years Adder Pics thread!! Will find adders hopefully during the school's Easter Holidays, and will be able to photograph them with my new S9600 I got for Christmas I can't wait! Are Adders hard to photograph though, without getting close? All the other snakes I've photographed I've caught, to avoid them dashing off somewhere, all the snakes I've seen in the wild have taken me completley by surprise, and that my previous camera had only 3Xzoom. Dan (!!!!!) Dan www.randacumbria.moonfruit.com |
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Vicar Senior Member Joined: 02 Sep 2004 No. of posts: 1181 View other posts by Vicar |
Posted: 16 Jan 2008 Dan, April will be awesome for photographing Adders, the males out mate-searching will hardly notice you if you keep reasonably still. Last year I amused myself by watching where they were going, heading them off, and lying still; and they sometimes slide right over you on their way :P Steve Langham - Chairman 
Surrey Amphibian & Reptile Group (SARG). |
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armata Forum Specialist Joined: 05 Apr 2006 No. of posts: 928 View other posts by armata |
Posted: 18 Jan 2008 Yes, I'll be in Surrey and Dorset April, good time to be had !!! 'I get my kicks on Route 62' |
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arvensis Senior Member Joined: 15 Mar 2006 No. of posts: 445 View other posts by arvensis |
Posted: 08 Feb 2008 Today was good - for this time of year. Saw 5 Zv basking(4 adults and 1 juv), and this fella:
First one of 2008 for me. Mark Hampshire Amphibian and Reptile Group. |
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Vicar Senior Member Joined: 02 Sep 2004 No. of posts: 1181 View other posts by Vicar |
Posted: 08 Feb 2008 Nice one Mark ! - Hants. side of the border? Weather looked great today...as I watched it through my office window  .
Steve Langham - Chairman
Surrey Amphibian & Reptile Group (SARG). |
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arvensis Senior Member Joined: 15 Mar 2006 No. of posts: 445 View other posts by arvensis |
Posted: 09 Feb 2008 Steve- It was fairly close to where I live in Eastleigh. It looks like its going to be a nice day today but I have other things to do. Mark Hampshire Amphibian and Reptile Group. |
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Vicar Senior Member Joined: 02 Sep 2004 No. of posts: 1181 View other posts by Vicar |
Posted: 09 Feb 2008 Just back from a trawl across Frensham Common...not a sausage ! - Conditions were ideal. It might take the warmth of the day to sink into the hibernacula, so maybe better luck tomorrow, if the weather is good. Steve Langham - Chairman
Surrey Amphibian & Reptile Group (SARG). |
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st rick Senior Member Joined: 26 Apr 2006 No. of posts: 141  View other posts by st rick |
Posted: 09 Feb 2008 This could be my first post of 2008, so a big hello to all. I saw my first Adder of the season this afternoon at Burnham Beeches. It was perfect weather: not a cloud in the sky all day. I must admit, I hadn't expected to see one so early. I had my camera ready, but this one was just too quick to snap. I did, however, find a slow worm under a tin and might post this when I can get it together. Is the season really underway already? |
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Caleb Forum Coordinator Joined: 17 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 448 View other posts by Caleb |
Posted: 09 Feb 2008 We saw one solitary adder out in Co. Durham today, at about 300m asl: 
Strange place to bask... 10+ metres from any likely hibernacula. |
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Peter Vaughan Senior Member Joined: 21 Mar 2005 No. of posts: 170 View other posts by Peter Vaughan |
Posted: 09 Feb 2008 Hello all Looks like spring has started early. A very bright day here in NE Hants and at noon temperature was 10 C, with no wind and 80% RH. So I thought I'd visit my local adder site, just in case (in the last two years haven't seen Adders before March). Signs on the way there were good - a Brimstone butterfly was on the wing and it was too warm for a fleece (both previous indicators for me that the first snakes of the year might be about). Anyway to cut a long story short ... I found my first Adder of the year, in a known spring basking spot. In fact I thought I recognised it and examination of the head scale pattern from the photo confirmed it was an individual I'd seen in exactly the same spot in both 2006 and 2007. As a bonus, a few meters away was a Slow Worm coiled up in the open - I'll post that on a new thread. Also seen today, apart from the Brimstone, were two Red Admirals and a Peacock butterfly on the wing. I checked out the local Grass Snake site as well, but nothing stirring there.
Happy herping Peter Vaughan |
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Suzi Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 No. of posts: 860 View other posts by Suzi |
Posted: 09 Feb 2008 You had a good day Peter. My husband was gardening and then went out for a walk in a short sleeved shirt! I stuck to a fleece but was plenty warm enough. Saw a few honey bees (I think they were) and we've had bumble bees out for two weeks. Our garden is pretty good for early butterflies but none so far. East Devon BTW. Suz |
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arvensis Senior Member Joined: 15 Mar 2006 No. of posts: 445 View other posts by arvensis |
Posted: 10 Feb 2008 Is that one of the sites we looked at last year Peter? I was out yesterday and saw the same animal as from friday, also 2 lizards out -3 down on friday. I suspect that may be due to the cold snap on friday night, it was down to -2 or -3 here. Mark Hampshire Amphibian and Reptile Group. |
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Peter Vaughan Senior Member Joined: 21 Mar 2005 No. of posts: 170 View other posts by Peter Vaughan |
Posted: 10 Feb 2008 Hi Mark Yes it was - close to, but not making use of, the corroline and felt we put down. I haven't seen any common lizards so far this year (last year there was one out basking in January). Just wondering whether to go out looking today, very sunny again but a couple of degrees colder than this time yesterday. Peter Peter Vaughan |
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clare Member Joined: 09 Apr 2007 No. of posts: 19  View other posts by clare |
Posted: 10 Feb 2008 Hi all Saw our first two adders of the year at Pulborough Brooks in West Sussex in glorious weather today. happy hunting Clare and Julzz
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Chris Monk Senior Member Joined: 21 Apr 2004 No. of posts: 157 View other posts by Chris Monk |
Posted: 14 Feb 2008 Those of you who attended the Herpetofauna Workers Meeting last weekend and saw my presentation on adders will have seen that one of the points that I made was that they were appearing earlier in the spring than in the past. Derek Whiteley in his 1997 book on the Reptiles & Amphibians of Sheffield Area had stated that their earliest record for adders was 22 March and I showed that for the Make the Adder Count Surveys we had had the first sightings in mid February with last year being the earliest (3rd Feb). Now after years of searching Derek has at last found a January adder, with just one out basking on 28th January this year. At this rate in another 10 years they will be out on Christmas Day! Derbyshire Amphibian & Reptile Group www.derbyshirearg.co.uk |
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armata Forum Specialist Joined: 05 Apr 2006 No. of posts: 928 View other posts by armata |
Posted: 14 Feb 2008 I have a paper coming out soon on the phenology of the adder, the increase in active days is quite significant. 'I get my kicks on Route 62' |
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Danial Senior Member Joined: 01 May 2003 No. of posts: 100 View other posts by Danial |
Posted: 15 Feb 2008 Can't wait to read your forthcoming paper, Tony. Have seen my first Adder of 2008 here in Surrey. Consultant Ecologist and Amphibians Officer of Surrey Amphibian and Reptile Group www.surrey-arg.org.uk |
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Vicar Senior Member Joined: 02 Sep 2004 No. of posts: 1181 View other posts by Vicar |
Posted: 16 Feb 2008 OK I guess I believe you all now  .Beautiful dark male from Frensham a couple of hours ago.  Steve Langham - Chairman
Surrey Amphibian & Reptile Group (SARG). |
- Adder Pics 2008 |
