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| Two grass snakes taking in the rays - Nottinghamshire 13th April 2013. |
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| Peacock Butterfly sunning itself Saturday 13th April 2013 - Spring at last |
Saturday, 13 April 2013
Grass Snakes - Natrix natrix
At last I can get out and about. Clear blue sky this morning in my part of Nottinghamshire. So after the weekly shop out with the camera. I do a yearly search for one of my favourite animals the Grass snake, Natrix natrix. If you look on the NBN network you'd be forgiven into thinking that these chaps are all over the place judging by the number of filled in grid references. However here in Notts I'm not convinced they are that common as I know of only one or two spots that I could go and look for them with confidence. Anyhow armed with camera I set off hoping I could find one basking in the early morning sun warming itself and still docile enough for me to get close enough to without it skidding off at speed never to be seen again. When looking for snakes they usually, 9 times out of 10, have clocked you before you eye them. You usually hear the slither and then catch a glimpse of the tail disappearing. Knowing where they are does give you the edge, you can creep up on them (sometimes) and fire away a few shots. Well today I was in luck, spotted 4 including one rather large old girl that did scoot off rather fast. These two in the photograph played ball, I settled down about 6 ft away from a warm spot and waited. Sure enough a couple turned up oblivious to my presence. Must have spent a good hour watching them do very little, kept me happy. Also had the pleasure of a peacock butterfly settle in front of me photo attached. On the snake photo see if you can see both snakes. There are definitely two there although one is a lot easier to spot then the other. Other snake photographs from previous years are on my flickr site accessible from this blog.
Know that the weather is hopefully picking up I'll be out and about a lot more. Thanks for looking and please add a comment if you have found anything interesting or wish to add a little more to each blog.
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Enjoyed the blog thanks, wish I could find these elusive characters. Nice photos too!
ReplyDeleteFantastic feeling the warm air again yesterday and to have swallows flying above whilst warbling away. Bumble bees out and also peacock and comma fluttering around. Also, wild flowers coming into bloom, nice to see the speedwell and some hedgerows with hawthorn finally coming to leaf. Ploughman's Wood normally carpeted with wood anemone this time of year - not yet but maybe soon!
Came across 2 bufo bufo mating (guess that was what they were doing - size difference remarkable!) on the Lambley Dumbles path.
A few buzzards and a lapwing displaying in the dumbles (I think they are known to have bred in this area before). Spent a half hour last week watching a short-eared owl quartering in the fields next to Spring Lane Farm - I know they have been quite active in the ex-pit areas this year so nice to see one even closer to town.
Joys of Spring eh!
Thanks for the comments, drop me an email of line and I'll discuss where you can find Grass snakes in Notts. I like to keep it quiet as they don't like being disturbed too much.
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