I had the feeling of a good
snake day. The weather was humid with
hazy sunshine through thin cloud. I took
myself off to high up on the Greensand Ridge, not far from Westerham, to look
for adders in an area where KRAG has laid refuges at several sites. I had been lucky there in the past, and
arrived with anticipation. The first
site produced two males lying out to soak up the morning sun, at the second si
te
I spooked a male amongst the fallen leaves of last autumn and this year’s
bluebells and at a third site a large Grass Snake didn’t take kindly to my
interruption, and slithered off under the adjacent brash. Things were looking encouraging.
At the next site, I had seen
a male adder on my last visit but there was no sign this time. I stood enjoying the sunshine and the
birdsong. Then, at about 10m from where
I was standing there was a sudden rustle of last year’s Sweet Chestnut
leaves. Amongst the leaves, bluebells
and bramble, I could just make out black and white markings. I carefully closed the gap by half, then stood
petrified as two male adders came out of the undergrowth in ‘combat’. I had my camera ready and mounted it on my
monopod and started shooting. The
pattern of the combat seemed to be wrestle like hell for 3 to 4 minutes, then
take a break for about 1 minute, then back to the wrestling. To take the photos I was standing on the
footpath and after about 5 minutes a couple with a dog came along and stopped
to ask what I was doing. I thought, this
is it, the dog will charge in and so end this story. I can’t remember what I said but it probably
wasn’t very friendly as the next time I looked out of the corner of my eye they
and the dog had gone; but the two males were still wrestling.
I couldn’t have told you how
long I stood there, but, looking back at the times on the photos it was about
25 minutes; enough time to get plenty of shots.
Then, as suddenly as it had started,
it was over; the two males stopped wrestling and settled down in front of me
about 2m apart. From the body language,
I thought the one nearest me had lost but I was wrong. After a couple of minutes to recover he moved
off, heading for a bramble patch about 10m away. I watched him and as he got to the patch, he
slowed down, and met up with his prize, a female, well camouflaged in the
undergrowth. He moved all over her,
gradually getting into the same position that she was in.
Before he could manage this,
I caught a movement from the corner of my eye, it was the loser, heading
straight for the happy couple. He got
right up to the pair, and was a couple of inches away, when the winner, using
his tail like a whip, delivered a good slap to the head. The loser turned tail and settled almost under
my feet to lick his wounds. The winner
eventually found the right position, and the fruits of this happy union will
hopefully be found in the autumn.
Before leaving, I checked the
head pattern of the loser, it was the male I saw on my last visit.
It’s a strange irony that on 6th
April this field day was cancelled because of snow and was rescheduled only
five weeks later weeks to fall on what will probably be one of the hottest days
of the year, certainly the hottest so far. An enthusiastic group of eight set off to
Wrotham Water (National Trust reserve) and scaled the downs, counting plenty of
slow worms as they went.There was also
an excellent showing of butterflies and orchids.A couple of weeks earlier adders had been
much in evidence but in the heat of mid-day they seem to have been keeping well
back. On arrival at the lower reaches of
the site, a moister and more shaded spot, we did at least find a very lethargic
grass snake which offered a good photo opportunity for Fred.
mbled near the village hall around 9.30 am on a not so reptile friendly damp and overcast morning typical of this year's Spring.
clearing was explored which contained a grassy bank with primroses, some invasive birch and bracken growing in the lower reaches. A recently sloughed adder skin was found along with a slow worm and common lizard hiding under some discarded tyres. Just as we were about to leave this area an adult male adder was discovered in the bracken and it hung around long enough for most people to view.
park. This is a site that we have monitored for several years now. The number of refugia there is now low but the numbers of animals under the remaining refugia are very high.
There were slow worm in large numbers, two basking adders and one lizard in the lower field area. Some sensitive vegetation clearance is now needed this winter to keep the bramble under control and open up basking areas. This would be a good task for a KRAG work party.
what kind of newts they had and asked for some advice. We were delighted to tell the school that they had found great crested newts in their wildlife area. The headteacher and the leader of the eco-club were very keen to make sure that they could do everything possible to look after their new found friends. The school were advised that the newts were a protected species and that they should not be handled or otherwise disturbed and, therefore, any management work to the pond should be restricted to the time of year when newts were not active in the pond. The school have since obtained a copy of 
