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RAUK - Archived Forum - Adder counts

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Adder counts:

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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 herpetologic239905.7129861111
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.

Chris
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  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.

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

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