Hazleton Common - first spring visit

Some early spring action captured at Hazleton Common during a Lockdown "STAY LOCAL" walk and exercise. It's great to have such natural beauties inhabiting a site that is within a brisk walk of home.

Adder (Vipera berus)

Common lizard (Zootoca vivipara)

Palmate newt (Lissotriton helveticus)

Comma (Polygonia c-album)

Also seen brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni), peacock (Aglais io), 7-spot ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata) and Buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius).

As spring progresses ..

First time out this year to see these little beauties ..

More reptiles on the chalk

Another survey on chalk grassland in West Sussex managed to record six adder (Vipera berus) and four common lizard (Zootoca vivipara) - the latter resolutely refusing to hang about for a photograph. I am still outstanding my first slow worm (Anguis fragilis) of the year on site?

five of the six adder recorded

First reptile survey of the year

Sunday's successful reptile hunt at Hazleton Common - motivated me to get out mid-week in suitable conditions, to carry out the first reptile survey of the season on a small chalk grassland site, in West Sussex.

In keeping with the last couple of years survey effort - the first Adder (Vipera berus), a male was recorded close to the suspected hibernacula. Itis already starting it's spring shedding. I will try to remember to check again next week to see if I can find the slough? A second male was also noted basking on the edge of a scrub block in the middle of the grassland.

.. "Go Wild in the Country .."

"Wild, Go wild, Go wild in the country
Where snakes in the grass are absolutely free"

Dave Barbarossa, Leigh Gorman, Malcolm McClaren & Matthew Ashman 1981

With the shift in day time temperatures over the past week - I have been very keen to get some early reptile sightings under my belt - and have consequently made two visits to Hazleton Common, in the hope of catching up with the local populations.

Conditions on Sunday 17th Feb looked good over the late morning and lunchtime - but despite extensive searches in known "hot spots" I drew a blank for reptiles. However, I did get my first year's sighting of newt spp. with at least three animals being seen in one of the smaller of the three ponds - probably Lissotriton helveticus - although I was not entirely convinced when reviewing the pretty dreadful record shot?.

Sightings of brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) and comma (Polygonia c-album) added interest along with several bumblebees.

Returning today for a couple of hours in bright sunshine with temperatures heading north of 14 deg C before mid-day I was more than confident that we would find our quarry. The usual areas on the northern half of the site drew a complete blank - despite the warm air temperature the artificial refugia were cold and damp to the touch - the leaf litter and dead bracken surrounding them feeling much warmer.

Early on - we struck lucky and found a grass snake (Natrix helvetica) basking in a recently cleared area within the bramble (Rubus fruticosus).

Grass snake

In the southern half of the site - we failed to find any more reptiles on our first sweep of the usual areas. So explored the ponds again for newts and this time found them in all three of ponds. The western pond being most productive with double figures being seen beneath the murky surface - a couple of dodgy record shots later, and I remain reluctant to take them to species.

As we headed back - I rechecked the margins of vegetation around a refugia - and found a second snake, inadvertently flushing it as I took a photograph. On the briefest of views I identified it as a grass snake, and it was only at home later - reviewing the picture that I realised that it was a melanistic adder (Vipera berus), which was subsequently verified by Mark one of the local Horndean Parish Rangers.

Adder

On this second visit the numbers of brimstone on the wing had increased with at least six individuals seen, singles of peacock (Aglais io) were also noted at Hazleton Common and Dell Piece West.

Crete pt 2 reptiles and amphibians

This selection of photographs covers the reptiles and single amphibian species that we encountered over two weeks in Crete - 25th Sept - Oct 9th inclusive.

Despite some effort being put into searching for reptiles and amphibians - our list remains short and covers only the most easily encountered species. No snakes were seen, tortoises remained a mystery to us and out of the three gecko species present on the island (Coghlan, S. 2001; cretanbeaches.com 2018) only one was successfully seen and identified.

Such a dismal list is undoubtedly the result of a combination of factors incl. time of + effort of searches; habitat; size of area and locations visited; access to habitat; individual bias i.e. we got very good at spotting Cretan wall lizard (Podarcis cretensis); seasonal affects; possible misidentification; disturbance.

Balkan green lizard (Lacerta trilineata) - Vamos

This juvenile Balkan green lizard was the only individual noted of this species. It was observed crossing a farm track on the outskirts of Vamos .. and was obliging enough to freeze momentarily for the camera.

Arnold and Ovendon (2004) describe a single sub-species of Balkan green lizard inhabiting Crete Lacerta trilineata polylepidota. However, cretanbeaches.com (ibid) states that two sub-species are present. Both the former Lacerta t. polylepidota as well as Lacerta t. trilineata.

The Cretan wall lizard is the only endemic species of lizard on the island - enjoying a taxonomic split from Erhard's wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii) as recently as 2008 (Wikipedia 2018). This species of lizard was by far our most commonly encountered reptile, seen throughout our travels and only seemingly excluded from areas of close human habitation where the ubiquity of the feral domestic cat (Felis catus) may well have suppressed the population?

Cretan wall lizard

Balkan terrapin (Mauremys rivulata) was noted in small numbers at Georgioupolis Lake - too far away for photographs - stacked as they were like a pile of abandoned dinner plates on a distant muddy foreshore.

A very flat and very dead green toad (Bufo viridis) was found on the farm track to the south of Vamos which leads into the next valley.

green toad (deceased)

The Turkish gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus) was the only gecko species successfully recorded on the trip - three individuals being seen on various walls around the Arosmari Village Hotel

Turkish gecko

The small Turkish gecko in hand (above) was rescued from the clutches of a local moggy, its tail had been lost. However, with the stump being both clean and dry it looked as if the loss had occurred somewhat prior to the most recent cat encounter.

Close examination of this tiny survivor also nailed the ID as Turkish gecko - the adhesive pads on it's toes being "not extend[ed] to the toe-tips and are divided beneath" as per Arnold and Ovendon (ibid).

Turkish gecko - adhesive pad detail

A probable ocellated skink (Chalcides ocellatus) was disturbed on a farmland waste above Vamos - the briefest of views - but it had a distinctly different Jizz from the other reptiles encountered.

Bibliography

Arnold, N. & Ovendon D. (2004) 2nd Edition A Field Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Britain and Europe Collins, Harper Collins Publishers, London

cretanbeaches.com (2018) [Online] Explore Cretan Fauna Available at: https://www.cretanbeaches.com/en/fauna-and-animal-species Accessed 21st December 2018

Cochlan, S. (2001) Revised 5th Edition A Birdwatching Guide to Crete Arelquin Press, Essex

Wikipedia (2018) [Online] Podarcis cretensis Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podarcis_cretensis Accessed 21st December 2018

Ventnor Wall Lizard (Podarcis muralis L.) and assorted butterflies - Ventnor, Isle of Wight

A quick visit to Ventnor this morning, in particular to the undercliff and sea wall on the eastern side of the town, produced sightings of both target species: wall lizard and Glanville fritillary (Melitaea cinxia).

The Glanvilles were very flighty only allowing a hasty record shot or two, and none were seen at roost with wings up - to be able to capture the underside in any photos. We saw Ca. 20 individuals although this could well of been higher?

Glanville fritillary

However, the wall lizards were to be the real show stoppers of the day, with several very confiding animals being recorded.

The supporting cast of butterflies were as follows: small blue (Cupido minimus), dingy skipper (Erynnis tages), Adonis blue (Polyommatus bellargus), common blue (Polyommatus icarus), peacock (Aglais io), holly blue (Celastrina argiolus), large white (Pieris brassicae).

Reptiles on the West Sussex chalk

Returning to a favorite chalk grassland site in West Sussex to survey the local reptile population, I was rewarded with the finding of an adder (Vipera berus) slough - just a few inches away from the spanking bright and shiny male adder from which it had recently sloughed. I was later able to collect the skin, to add to my cabinet of curiosities.

adder

slow worm (Anguis fragilis)

common lizard (Zootoca vivipara)

common lizard

adder

adder - recently sloughed

adder slough

adder slough - collected