 |
|
|
Adder counts: |
| Author | Message |
|
herpetologic2 Senior Member Joined: 15 Jun 2004 No. of posts: 1369  View other posts by herpetologic2 |
Posted: 02 Apr 2009 The national monitoring scheme 'make the adder count' has been running for five years. The dating of first emergence, sloughing and mating is something which is being detected each year which may be helpful to record the timing of our seasons. The national counts can help to put adder sites in context. The best adder sites in terms of numbers include sites in Norfolk where 50 to 80 adders are seen in peak counts! can anyone beat that? I am trying to encourage people to send in spring counts of adders from their known sites - dont worry you do not have to reveal exact locations and you can make the site location confidential. I truly believe that this project is vital to help the adder and its conservation. So I am pleading with people on RAUK who regularly count adders in the spring to send in their counts for 2009. You can also add previous peak counts and it would helpful to have the actual date of the peak count aswell as the year. Please email me if you would like a form to fill in Jon Vice Chair of ARG UK - self employed consultant - visit ARG UK & Alresford Wildlife |
|
Robert V Senior Member Joined: 06 Aug 2004 No. of posts: 717  View other posts by Robert V |
Posted: 05 Apr 2009
Jon, four male addrers today including these two. Southern EF. Rob - also a day loving toad on the wander over land!
RobV |
|
MandS Member Joined: 28 Mar 2007 No. of posts: 4 View other posts by MandS |
Posted: 09 Apr 2009 We are not sure if this is the right place to ask but we have a slightly worrying development. On our main site the males have been around since early March, have sloughed, and there is plenty of combat but no sign yet of any females. Any explanations? Has anyone experienced anything similar? Marcus and Sue Marcus and Susan, BedsRAG |
|
will Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 No. of posts: 330 View other posts by will |
Posted: 09 Apr 2009 Dear Marcus and Sue Good to hear from you again - I'm still missing some females at some of my sites - in my experience some of the big old ladies don't get out of bed too early in the season. Interesting that you are seeing combat without females - I've not seen this myself - are you sure there isn't a secretive female hiding away near the males ? Cheers Will |
|
Chris Monk Senior Member Joined: 21 Apr 2004 No. of posts: 157 View other posts by Chris Monk |
Posted: 09 Apr 2009 Marcus / Sue There can be quite a delay in females appearing and up here in the Peak District the males can be out for a couple of months before more than the odd female appears. Also we have sites where in 5 years of doing "Make the adder count" surveys we have never seen a female in the spring only males who eventually disappear, presumably to travel to where the females are. John Newton found such a site a couple of years ago with a female mating with one of a group of surrounding males, and despite both he & I searching since then we have not managed to turn up any males emerging and basking anywhere near there last spring or this year. The nearest good looking site for males is at least a couple of hundred metres away. Even at sites where most of the animals seen in late summer and autumn are females only one or two females are seen in the spring, compared to many more males. As Will says, the females can be very secretive and I would have thought that if there is combat then there is a receptive female around somewhere close by. Derbyshire Amphibian & Reptile Group www.derbyshirearg.co.uk |
|
GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090  View other posts by GemmaJF |
Posted: 09 Apr 2009 I agree with Will, if you are seeing combat, sit down and watch quietly. It is highly likely there is a female out of sight. The victor will give her away, watch for jerky/agitated movements and lots of tongue flicking after the combat over a small area - you can bet the female is right there hidden from view I tend to find it easier to intercept males during emergence counts, they emerge earlier, bask longer at the usual spots before dispersal. I have a number of sites where I rarely record the females until the males lead me to them, in other words until after the females have already dispersed. Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant |
- Adder counts |
Combat usually occurs when a male is mate guarding the female. A second and sometimes a third male will arrive, sometimes they seem to be tolerated for a short while, but before long the combat starts (I once saw a mating where the guarding male left the female for combat and a third large male came and mated the female, he then went on his way, cheeky thing). I've never observed combat without a female being very nearby.