Monday, March 20, 2017

Over the weekend...

Part of a pile of 5 Adders

Neonate. All of 6 inches long and thick as a pencil.

Slow Worm.

On Sunday we had a trip across to Branton Pits, with the intention of checking some forest areas for Goshawks, but in the end, we just drank tea, chatted with other friends and paid our annual respects to the local reptiles. Along the usual spots were 13 Adders including a tiny juvenile or neonate and 3 Slow Worms. I was particularly please with these as they are my first in the county.


 Last night was a decent moth night with 63 moths of 10 species caught. March Moth, Diurnea fagella and this Pine Beauty were all new for the year.

Pine Beauty
Today I was on a holiday ( using them up before April) when news came through that ADMc had found a fleeting male Black throated Thrush near the wintering Great Grey Shrike at Prestwick Carr. He had watched it fly off strongly south but it was luckily relocated by local birder Peter Fletcher where the lads on site, or local enough to be there in 20 minutes, managed to connect. Unfortunately, I had driven 27 of the 30 miles from home only to be greeted with the news that it had flown again, this time off the edge of the map and on to the 'no mans land' that is the local golf course, never to be seen again.

Never mind, these flighty thrushes are sent to try our patience. After last Autumn's Whites Thrush on Holy Island and the Wacky Races style twitch from work, I try not to be greedy!


4 comments:

Ragged Robin said...

Wonderful to see the adders Stewart. They are believed extinct in Warwickshire and I haven't seen one for years.

Citybirding said...

Am green with envy for sight of those Adders after a couple of failed trips elsewhere. Well done.

Unknown said...

You created such a nice blog!!! I really enjoyed reading each one of your posts and the images are always amazing!!!!
Jessi

Simon Douglas Thompson said...

The eyes of the adder never cease to amaze me