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Adders on Mendip 2011 |
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tim-f 
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Joined: 13 Apr 2008 Location: Bristol, UK Status: Offline Points: 208 |
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 Topic: Adders on Mendip 2011Posted: 13 Mar 2011 at 6:23pm |
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Hi all.
Saw my first of the year today at my usual Mendip spot. It was about 15 degC early pm, dropping to about 10degC later pm. It was sunny but with a cold wind. Saw about 10 in total, including these four (sorry for poor quality of photo).  Also four Grass Snakes. Regards, Tim. Edited by tim-f |
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administrator
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Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Status: Offline Points: 10 |
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Posted: 13 Mar 2011 at 10:03pm |
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Nice work Tim, funny to think that in a few weeks and they'll be beating each other up, right now, they are happy to huddle for some warmth
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Suzi
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Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1025 |
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Posted: 13 Mar 2011 at 10:54pm |
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Is one of them melanistic?
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Suz
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tim-f
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Posted: 14 Mar 2011 at 10:43pm |
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Either that or he isn't using enough sun block.
 I've seen a melanistic one in the area before - I think 2008 and 2009, though not last year. Not quite the same place, about 300m away. Maybe the same individual? Not sure if Robbie Lab's still around, but he may be able to give a view on how many melanistic Adders there are at that site. Tim. |
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kevinb
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Posted: 14 Mar 2011 at 11:15pm |
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Hi Tim I was down there today,saw 3 Grass snakes and 10 Adders including this dark one.
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Robbielab
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Joined: 16 Apr 2008 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 26 |
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Posted: 16 Mar 2011 at 1:03pm |
Yep, still here! So far at the site I have found maybe 8 melanistics (of the 150+ adders I've found there, it's not a high percentage!). 3 of these have been completely melanistic (the markings are virtually undistingushable), but most have been "semi-melanistic", like the one in your photo. I was at the site on Monday and found 13 adders, 4 grassies and a few lizards... no slow worms yet this year. These two were from Monday's outing...  ... and here are some more melanistics from the site from the last few years.      Tim, I was wondering if you have noticed a change in reptile numbers since the land "management" destroyed virtually all of the cover from several parts of the site? I found far fewer snakes last year than in the two previous years when the vegetation was still there! Tony, I visited Stockhill last spring (in Feb) with John Dixon. Only found one adder, but the weather wasn't great. Maybe check it out again sometime. Cheers! |
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Robbie
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JamesM
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Posted: 17 Mar 2011 at 8:58am |
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Some beautiful-looking specimens. Congrats! :) |
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Suzi
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Posted: 17 Mar 2011 at 7:02pm |
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On the heaths I look at I've never seen ONE melanistic!
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Suz
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tim-f wrote: