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An Essex Wildlife Garden Update!

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Liz Heard View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Liz Heard Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: An Essex Wildlife Garden Update!
    Posted: 18 May 2018 at 12:10am
> Very pleasing!

Not seen it in my garden yet (though often find the young so i know breeding occurs), but we uncovered a male gripping a female under one of my roof tiles at my parent's place on Sunday.
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GemmaJF View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GemmaJF Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 May 2018 at 10:39pm
Forgot to mention saw mating slow worms under Onduline today, first time I've observed that in the garden. Smile
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GemmaJF Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 May 2018 at 10:36pm
Happy days now Tim, seems the less we do now the more we see. Easy then to forget all the hard work that really went into it! We took the plunge this year and have left the whole garden to re-wild. Been busy recording all the common wildflowers that nature has given us. Lots of yellow this year with creeping buttercup, dandelions, wild mustard, greater celandine and all plants provided free by nature. Smile

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Tom Omlette View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tom Omlette Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 May 2018 at 9:54pm
so pleased all your efforts are paying off gemma. lovely to see.
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GemmaJF View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GemmaJF Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 May 2018 at 10:41pm
Think it is coming up to shed chubsta, 4 were very dark like this and one was a brilliant green. Though I've found plenty of young snakes under felt, sure I find more that are about to shed or have just fed. This fits with captive observations I made years back that grass snakes will generally spend longer and be more likely to seek artificial heat sources to speed up particular metabolic processes such as shedding and digestion.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GemmaJF Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 May 2018 at 10:21pm
I'm guessing we grew these in the compost Suz. We usually have them about, but never seen so many at once before. Seems a shame about your neighbour's garden, but as you say could bring in some refugees to a safer haven within your garden.

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Suzy View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Suzy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 May 2018 at 8:17pm
Five Gemma, lucky you! I've not seen one here for a few years but I wondered if I might get some escapees as fairly new next but one neighbours are conducting a scorched earth policy it seems in their garden. Had a digger in and levelled lots, sawn down trees and bushes. Their predecessors were my friends and gardened in a similar way to me, with lots of wild areas. They put a pond in and had lots of slowies about the place. They had grass snakes occasionally too.
Suz
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chubsta View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote chubsta Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 May 2018 at 7:08pm
If I saw one that colour there is no way I would think it a grass snake
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GemmaJF View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GemmaJF Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 May 2018 at 6:58pm
Good day for young grass snakes under felts in the garden, counted five under one felt. As you all know they don't usually hang about long for pictures, but this one obliged. 



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Suzy View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Suzy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Apr 2018 at 4:23pm
We are pensioners so I think our days for expanding territory are gone. We have a large garden already. There is nowhere here to add on anyway. I would hope that if we had to leave it would be under circumstances where we had time to dismantle the wild areas, but you never know. 
Suz
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