An Hour With the Adders!

Had a good day with the adders this morning. Found 5 in total and all of them were females ranging from a tiny juvenile to a fully grown lady!
I was bitten by some nasties and got bramble scars all over my legs, but it was my own fault for lying in them while wearing shorts!

The tiny one. Around 9 inches long and a feisty girl. She wasn't too bothered and was quite inquisitive.





And here is mum basking just around the corner.



Same female except this time uncoiled and stretched out!



Another female under a gorse bush. I don't push to get too close to the larger adders as they are more timid than the little ones and it would only disturb them. Anyway, it's nice to see them in their natural habitat.



Rob

Adder Survey Project & Some Ladies!

It was heavy and the only way of carrying it without making 3 trips back to the car was to balance it on my head! Thankfully I had a friend, willing to suffer a bruised scalp to help!
I selected a spot, which has been a hot spot for adders over the years, but like most locations it has seen a sharp decline in their numbers over the last few years. Hopefully this will give them a safe place to bask and help their numbers grow. One benefit of using artificial refuge like corrugated tin is that it absorbs and holds the heat, so the snakes will be able to bask for longer, especially if it is raining.
Another bonus is that the snakes may be able to put off hibernation for a few weeks and ever emerge from hibernation earlier if they know they have a safe, warm location.

It may take a while for the snakes to get used to it and feel safe using it, but Rome wasn't built in a day, so fingers crossed.
Sorry about the close up shots, but I only had the big lens with me - had enough to carry on my head!










However, I did bump into this girl - a juvenile female adder at a different location and although she was a little grumpy, she did pose for a couple of snaps.



I moved around to get a nice back-lit image of her, before I left her to bask in peace!




The old saying "It's the one you don't see that gets ya!" and I just spotted her in time, but if you go walking in their garden, you need eyes in the back of your head!
Again, when I left her she was happily taking in the morning sun.



Rob

Worrying Times!

As you have most probably heard on the radio or seen on the TV, our native adder is in trouble!
National statistics have shown that adder numbers are dropping throughout the country and the Forest of Dean is one area for concern.
I have been surveying for NARRS from day one (2007) and I have also been monitoring my snake locations for more than 20 years.
During one visit to one of my hot spots back in April 2005 I found 18 snakes in approx 1 hour. I visited he same area at the same time this year and found just one grass snake and no adders! Very disturbing!
However, I did find these two females at a spot, which has not been fruitful over the years and hopefully there will be a few fella's around soon.

No close up's today as they were tucked under a small tree and gorse bush and if I had pushed to get close it would have disturbed them.






Rob

Sniffing The Dasies

Photographing snakes is easy, right? Wrong!

You can never predict where they will emerge and this can sometimes create some tricky situations.
I heard this female grass snake before I saw her and just managed to get my camera on her in time, before she slithered off. She didn't go far though and I did manage to photograph her again, later on.
If you startle a grass snake they will sometimes rear up, a bit like a cobra, to try and intimidate the threat. If you have a 120cm snake, they can lift around 30cm of their body off the ground and if you are lying down, as I usually am, it "can" be intimidating!
I have some pics of the grass snake rearing up and will post them soon.


The sun was behind this female and with the daisy in the frame it made a nice back lit image.




Rob

Ambush Predator!

You can sometimes find snakes around log piles while walking in the forest. Their prey will use the logs and bark as protection, but where there is prey, the predator is not far away!
You can commonly see lizards basking on top of the logs, but out of sight, under the logs are newts, frogs and toads, all of which are prey species to our snakes.

The female in the photograph below has obviously already been successful in finding one the the named above as she has a full belly.
A snakes skin is elasticated and will stretch to take a hefty meal on board. You can see by this females scales that her skin has stretched considerably, meaning she is probably digesting a small frog or toad!

When I found her all I could see was a small area of body scales, so I got the camera ready and crept forward. She sensed (or probably) saw me, then poked her head out and told me to hiss off!
I took a few pics and left her to fully digest her meal in peace. This is probably where she caught her snack.




Rob

Basking Grass Snake

This is a photograph of a basking female grass snake. If you don't know what to look for you would have walked right past her. She has tucked herself behind a rock for extra camouflage and also for a bit of extra protection.
Sometimes snakes will stretch out to bask, this is when they are cold and need to warm up quickly. Once they have warmed up, they will then coil to regulate how much heat they need to absorb. I will address this later.
You will notice that her eye is slightly blue and clouded. This is also something I will address at a later date.

She was approx 120cm in length and quite bulky. A mature snake and grass snakes of this size and bigger are seldom seen.





Rob

I've Got My Eye On You!

Even though I feel completely safe and in no danger when photographing the adder today, I also understand that I would be foolish to become complacent.
In the early days I did just that and was bitten by a mature female. Looking back at that incident now, I feel like an idiot for being too gung-ho and it must have been quite stressful for the snake involved!
Sometimes a snake will give a dry bite where they hold back the venom. This is just a warning bite as they have seen the target as non threatening to their life and want them to leave.
Failure to do this will invite an envenomation and as it takes a huge amount of the snakes energy to produce venom, which it will later rely on for catching a meal, this is not a good scenario for "all" involved!
It was an envenomation when I was bitten, purely because she was in the open and I was in her face. I have learnt a lot over the years and "respect" for this creature is on top of my list.

The adder in the photograph below is a young female and she decided to take a close look at me while I was photographing her older brothers and sisters.
Once again I was on my belly, using a beanbag as a support, but sometimes you have to move away from the support and hand hold if a snake is out of shot.
I had moved away from the support of the beanbag and was photographing an adult male. I was probably away from the beanbag for only 2 - 3 minuets, but I have learnt that when you are in the snakes garden, be careful where you tread and always check the area before you move.

I slowly looked back towards the beanbag and this is when I saw her head resting on top of it! As quick as a flash I took this photograph and she then moved away.

I guess I have been lucky that I have not been bitten more often, but having the utmost respect for these magnificent reptiles has helped me learn a lot about them and I will keep learning for the rest of my life.




Rob

Photo Comp - Winner!

I am very excited and chuffed to bits to have won the Wildlife Portraits Category with my female adder portrait - with Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust.
The pic entered is the one I am using as a header for this blog, as it is one of my favourite photographs and one of my best encounters to date.
Wildlife conservation comes in many forms and one of the best is education. I love our snakes, not just because they are one of the most efficient creatures on our planet, but also because they are gravely misunderstood and this has led to them being persecuted by many, over thousands of years.


Competition Winners


I was surveying one of my local areas for the adder back in 2007 when I saw this female making her way through a gorse bush. I watched her for a while to try and determine her path and then positioned myself where I thought she would pop out!
There were other adders in the vicinity, so I had to be careful while sitting down in the gorse bush (quite painful!)
At this point I could not see her, so I had to just sit there patiently waiting and hoping that she was coming my way.
Then I saw some movement, so I quickly, but calmly raised my camera to my eye and waited. She came through the gorse bush directly in front of me and this is when I took this shot.
She saw me almost immediately and hissed, but as I was low to the ground and very still, she stayed put. This gave me the opportunity to photograph her moving around in the gorse.

After she left, I was excited as I knew I had managed to get some good photographs of her, but at the same time I was disappointed as I knew opportunities like this are very hard to come by and it may be years before the next one arises.



Rob

Adders Mating!

As mentioned previously, I spend a lot of up close and personal time with our snakes, including the adder. Saying this, there are times when they need their space and during the mating season, I stay well back and respect the fact that they are very sensitive and secretive creatures.
While they are mating I photograph them from a distance that doesn't disturb them. The only draw back to this is that there is usually grass and reed in between them and my camera, so this inevitably ends up in the shot!

Here we have two mating adders. You can easily tell the female from the male due to her size and brown colour. She is also the same snake, which is featured in the grass snake pic below.

Female adders, like the female grass snakes grow much larger than the males and I have found some truly magnificent specimens while surveying the Forest of Dean for them.
The largest female adder I have found and photographed was approx 80cm and was very bulky, she was tucked under a small tree with gorse all around to shelter and protect her. Very beautiful snake and I will post her portrait soon.



Rob

Identification Part 2

Here we have two mating grass snakes and a female adder, all in the same shot. You can now see the difference between the two with the female adder standing out from the grass snakes with her zig-zag pattern and ginger brown colour.
I never disturb them and I photographed these snakes from quite a distance, hence the distracting reeds in front of them, but I would rather have a messy shot, than know I had disturbed them. Especially when they are mating!





Rob

Mature Female Grass Snake

This is a mature female grass snake (Natrix natrix), she was approx 120cm, or 4' long and quite bulky.
Grass snakes are non-venomous, but they do have a very unique way of defending themselves.
If threatened or attacked, the grass snake will roll over on its back and feign death. It will gape its mouth and the tongue will hang out. If this fails they will then squirt a liquid from their anal gland, which comprises of partly digested food and anal secretions!
I have been unfortunate to have smelt this in the past and it is one smell I never want to smell again!

It is quite difficult to sex these snakes as they have no colour variations like the adder, but as the females grow considerably larger than the males, this is one way.
The other more complicated way of telling males from females is to count the
sub-caudal scales, males have 68-72 and females have 52-56.
Of course you have to get close enough to do this and as the grass snake is "very" shy and elusive, it can prove very difficult!



Rob

Basking Female Adder

A female adder (vipera berus) basking during March 2010. She had not long emerged from hibernation and was a little sluggish as it was still pretty cold.
The adder is Britain's only venomous snake, but their venom is not that potent. However, if you are bitten you should treat it as an emergency, as an allergic reaction to the venom can cause anaphylactic shock. If this goes untreated it can prove fatal.
Young children and old people are more vulnerable to the adders venom. And don't forget dogs - If your dog is bitten, get it to the vet asap!
The adder will only release venom if hunting for food, or if it feels its life is in danger. They sometimes give a warning bite and this is called a dry bite, where they bite, but don't release venom.
It takes a lot of the snakes energy to produce venom, venom that they rely on for catching their prey.



Rob