First slow worm of 2011

JaySteel · #1 (**permalink**) 23-03-2011, 05:06 PM

I was out for a little while at my usual local site yesterday and spotted 5 male Adders, two Viviparous Lizards and a male Slow Worm within 30 minutes. I was very surprised to see a slow worm in March. Has anyone else seen any this year?

chazzpott · #2 (**permalink**) 24-03-2011, 02:40 AM

I have been looking in my local 'Snake Spot' for a few days now and saw a couple of single ones, but today I found these guys

Four of them, all under the same shelter. Two males & two females I think.
Turning over another shelter I found this little chap

If you look closely you can see some ants, which gives you some idea of his size. There were also a couple of others under some other bits of old sheeting as well. I counted Seven in all

I also saw two Grass snakes in the same spot, but they hissed off too quickly for me to get a photo

I have not yet seen any adders yet, and am a bit concerned as this spot is where the 'Handsome viper' of last autumn was photographed.
Handsome viper

JaySteel · #3 (**permalink**) 25-03-2011, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chazzpott

I also saw two Grass snakes in the same spot, but they hissed off too quickly for me to get a photo

I didn't realise that the Grass Snakes were out too. We've had 16-18 degrees here for the past few days so I'm not that surprised.

Jason

Robert S J Smith · #4 (**permalink**) 25-03-2011, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaySteel

I didn't realise that the Grass Snakes were out too. We've had 16-18 degrees here for the past few days so I'm not that surprised.

Jason

Loads of Grass Snakes out in my local reptiling spot! It's been really interesting cause in two days I found them in mating balls twice! the first day 1 female 3 males and the second 1 female 4 males.

P.s. also a few pics on my flickr site

Za · #5 (**permalink**) 25-03-2011, 08:01 PM

I went to where I usually see adders today and within a few minutes found a dead adder, I went further on to where I normally see 3 or 4 adders basking and something darted into the gorse, I waited for a while and it came out again, it was a grass snake.
There were no live adders anywhere, I looked for over 3 hours and found none, which is a first for this particular area, I was wondering if they maybe didnt survive the winter.
Found a slow worm and saw loads of common lizards, but unfortunately only a small dead adder.
Za

JaySteel · #6 (**permalink**) 25-03-2011, 10:15 PM

That's a shame that you only found a dead Adder Za. Lets hope it didn't die due to any human actions.

I'm very jealous that you're seeing all these Grass Snakes though Robert. I have a lot of trouble finding these in my area. I know they're about. I just don't get to see them very often at all. I saw maybe 4 last year as oppose to 30+ Adders.

Jason