Monday 8 April 2013

Spring is trying to arrive and awakening Adders

The cold spell is finally gone - we all hope. This week has seen the arrival of Willow Warblers and many other migrants. The weather has also held back some species such as Golden Plover - there are many fantastic males around the Farm. I popped down the Farm last Friday after work and found a Little Ringed Plover - a rare bird for the Farm. It was feeding alonside a very wary Redshank and an even warier Water Pipit. The pipit has been around for a week and is a cracking summer male. I have struggled to get a decent pic of the pipit but have managed a few record shots of the LRP.

 
 
I also took a pic of one of my favourite birds - Wheatear:
 




Over the last few weeks I have found at least 4 different adders. I am aiming to photograph as many as I can to try and monitor numbers. Adders all have a unique head pattern. Interestingly the adders that I have found this year have all been females - correction - I think due to the black diamonds (rather than brown) they are males!! The first one certainly is. Here are a couple of them: