Not a bad morning at all...

[yellowhammer]

Went for a quick wander this morning, found a new site with lots of adders & slow worms;

Male adder



Male slow worm with juvenile



Adult and juvenile slow worms



Juvenile adders and adult slow worm



Total was 18 slow worms, 6 adders & 1 common lizard. Not bad for an hour, I thought.

[Wild-Woman]

Brilliant shots Ian. Come on, spill the beans for location...send me a pm!

Under refugia I bet.

[goosey]

Excellent images Ian, I dont think I've seen pictures of so many at the same time. I particularly like the 4th photo. You must be chuffed to bits and still rubbing your hands with glee - well done.

[badgerwatcher]

Oh Ian, those are beautiful. Thank you for sharing them.

[richardkm]

Wow, what a superb collection! I haven't seen a slow worm in nearly 50 years, I used to see them in our garden as a kid when I lived in Sussex, wasn't in to photography then, too poor to be able to afford a camera anyway. Nearly ran over an adder on a bicycle in the New Forest once, it was curled up in the middle of a path, looking like horse droppings - of course no camera with me dammit!

[colincurry]

Lovely shots. Thanks for sharing them. For me also, it is years since I have seen any of these - and never in such profusion.

Colin

[aeshna5]

As the others have said, superb photos Ian, an excellent morning indeed. I've not seen Adder + Slow-worm almost canoodling like that!

[glsammy]

Fabulous shots, and something I've never seen. By that I mean I've only ever seen a slow worm, none of the others.

[rlchew]

Excellent photos Ian!

I was particularly interested in the photos of the Adders and Slow Worms together.

I was lucky seeing and photographing an Adder last weekend but I was tucked up in the office all day today so I am hoping for some warm weather over the weekend to go reptile hunting.

Richard

[yellowhammer]

Thanks everyone. I regularly find adders & slow worms together under refugia. Adders seem choosier about where they hang out while slowies are less fussy, so if you find cover that's used by adders you'll get slow worms under it sooner or later.

I've no evidence to back this up but I think baby slow worms form a large part of juvenile adders' diet. I've been lucky enough to see a young adder eat a slow worm that was only about 2cm shorter than the adder. No camera obviously but it took the best part of an hour.