Autumn Adders on Cannock Chase

Today I awoke to a chilly morning - in fact, the first frost of the year here in Cheshire. I had arranged to collect my new herping buddy, Tim on route to Cannock Chase for a spot of adder hunting. We started at an area of Tim's and as the sun began to warm up, he spotted a male snake (the first male that I have actually seen). A good search of the area revealed two more males and two females.

We then moved on to check out my own site around the corner, and the weather was by now surprisingly warm for this time of year. This area had previously proved quite fruitful for large females, and we were hopeful there might now be a few young around. I was surprised and disappointed to not find any snakes in this area at all.

V. berus male.

V. berus male.

V. berus female.

V. berus female.

V. berus female.

V. berus male.

Today's Herping in Staffordshire

Common Toad Bufo bufo.

Juvenile Grass Snake Natrix natrix

Grass Snake Natrix natrix feigning death.

Hatchling Grass Snake Natrix natrix.

Bufo bufo

Juvenile Common Toad, Cheshire

Rana Temporaria

Blue Adder

An unusually coloured "blue" female adder photographed on my last visit to Cannock Chase. My favourite yet UK find!

Phuket

Earlier this year I travelled to Phuket, Thailand for a family wedding. It was a good opportunity to get out and do some herping in an area quite rich with reptiles. Hopefully I identified them all correctly. Please feel free to leave a comment if anything is incorrect.

Calotes versicolor



Varanus salvator

Author with Acrochordus javanicus

Hemidactylus platyurus

Boiga dendrophila

Python reticulatus

Author with Bufo melanostictus

Varanus salvator

Sphenomorphus maculatus

Sphenomorphus maculatus

 

Varanus nebulosus

Mabuya multifasciata

Mabuya multifasciata

My First Adder Encounter

Last Spring I took a trip to Cannock Chase, Staffordshire - an area well known for its adder population. Two previous trips to other locations had been fruitless and I was feeling confident that this time I would be lucky. Unfortunately my first trip drew a blank. I was completely new to the area and it took several hours of walking before I found a likely habitat - by which time it was late in the day and too hot for a good chance of spotting V. berus.

With some gained knowledge of the area, a second trip turned out to be more of a success... Within 30 minutes I had found my first adder - an adult female.

My first adder!

I managed to find a total of three snakes (all females) although one did decline to allow itself to be photographed.



Another large female.

All three individuals were found within couple of hundred square yards of each other, lazily basking in the morning sun. My first experience of adders had more than lived up to my expectations and was one of my all time top wildlife encounters!