.. "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.