British reptiles.

Part two the grass snake.

The British grass snake should be called the water snake really as they spend a lot of time in slow flowing rivers,ponds and brooks. If a grass snake is disturbed, they will dive into water and hide amongst the weeds, Also if threatened by a predator, They will feign death by lying on its back with its tongue lolling, They may also eject a strong smelling liquid. Grass snakes can spend up to an hour under water. When they are away from the waters edge their habitat is low growing vegetation(close cropped sword). They hibernate between October and March in crevices or in old tree roots, After hibernation the males will look for a female and they will couple up and mate. In late spring or early the summer the female will find an area that generates heat, This is usually a compost heap or in leaf litter. She lays her eggs(up to forty). She is the only British snake to lay her eggs in a place where the heat is self generating.Depending on the temperature of where the female has laid her eggs, The warmer the area will mean that the eggs may hatch a couple of weeks earlier than those in cooler places. The eggs have flexible shells and are held in clusters by a sticky film. Two months after laying her eggs, Young snakes about seven inches long emerge through slits made by an egg tooth on their stout(this is shed after about two hours). They are smaller than their parents but look very similar. The female grass snake is longer than the male, It can grow up to two meters in length with the male being slightly smaller. The grass snake is Britain's longest snake, it has pale banding behind its head and has a round pupil, unlike the adder which has a vertical pupil(The eye is always covered by a transparent part of the skin rather than a eyelid). The grass snake also has a pale underside and greyish-green skin, But they do vary from light green to a olive green colour. It will shed(sluffing is another word for it) its skin between three and ten times a year,The colour of its skin is dull before sluffing but at its brightest afterwards. Its tail tapers away at the end of its body, it has dark markings along the flanks of its body with dark markings along its back. Grass snakes feed mainly on mice,frogs,tadpoles,newts,fish and birds. A grass snake swims with sinuous body movements as it hunts, It will swallow tadpoles but anything larger will be taken ashore to be eaten. Grass snakes are found throughout most of Britain but are not found in Ireland. They can live for about ten years in the wild if they are not preyed on be badgers or hedgehogs.

Magneto reception

Birds need a good sense of direction and a map. Birds have a substance called biological magnitude in their head`s. They also have a really sensitive compass in their head as well. They also have a substance called cryptocrome, Just above their beak as well. When the two substances are energised by blue light they can see the earths magnetic field, Enabling them to plan their journey. How do they know where the right spot is? When young birds run out of energy, They can then learn the environment. They do this by looking at features on their journey like road`s and bridges etc.

British reptiles

Part one the adder.

The adder is Britain's only venomous snake. Adders live in open spaces like heaths, moors and scrub land. However, they are very secretive and non-aggressive that they rarely pose a threat to humans. They have a dark zigzag pattern on their back and dark spots on their tale. They also have a black V mark just behind their head,A vertical pupil and a clear membrane over their eyes(Snakes don`t have eyelids). The colour of their eyes are red.Males are grey,White or cream but females are a red-brown colour, The male can grow up to sixty five centimetres with the female being slightly bigger. Adders are widespread throughout Britain especially in southern England and Scotland. They are active during the day,and may be seen hunting in warm weather for small birds,small mammals,lizards and frogs. Adders bite their prey with fangs, which inject venom,or poison, Straight into the victims flesh. If the animal does not die straight away the snake will track it with its forked tongue to follow the scent, They have heat sensors on its snout that will also detect the animals body. Snakes hibernate from October right through to the beginning of march. After hibernation they will look for a mate, On the heathland in spring males will wrestle with other males for the right to mate with receptive females who only become pregnant once every two years. They will not bite each other as this would be fatal as the are venomous. When the male adder approaches the female, he has to be careful, he will twitch his body to appease her and then they will couple. Between three and sixteen young are then born in august or September. Most reptiles lay eggs, but adders are viviparous snakes, which means they keep the eggs inside their bodies while they develop and then give birth to live young.The mother will not give them any parental care and they will leave the nest not long after they are born. Adders learn about the world around them using their excellent senses of sight,smell and taste. After they have killed its prey they fold back their fangs,before swallowing the animal whole. It draws in its prey by working its loosely hinged,wide opening jaws. Each half the upper and lower jaws can be moved independently. Very dark adders are not un-common,They are totally black with no zig zags. They have very few natural enemies apart from man and can live for up to ten years in the wild. They take about two years to reach maturity. Adders will shed their skin from time to time.

Things to look out for in june.

Bombus pratorum on some bramble.

June is a wonderful month to go for a nice walk with a pair of binoculars to see how many fledgling birds you can spot. Blue tits,great tits,robins,green finches,gold finches and black birds should be able to be seen. I counted four blue tits and five great tit fledglings while i was out walking last week. Make sure that the feeders in your gardens are topped up as the parent and fledgling birds will come to rely on them. The word tit comes from an Icelandic word tittr, Meaning a small bird or just anything small. Make sure that you don`t throw any peanuts on to the floor as the fledglings may choke on them. Nearly all of us will have urban or country red foxes living by us, Whether you live in the town or the country. To find out where the red foxes are, Is to find out where their breeding earth, Then you can enjoy some fantastic viewing. It`s not as hard as you think to find their earth, Small copses or a stand of trees in a park or an tucked away areas of wasteland are good areas to start looking. When you thing their could be red fox earth look for a single hole that is a bit bigger than a rabbits hole and a little bit smaller than a badgers entrance. Because the young cubs are now getting very playful look out for their toys around the earth,These could be bones,feathers,rabbits feet or even whole wings. All of the vegetation will be flattened around the earth as well. One thing that will make you know that its a red fox earth is the strong smell coming from it. This is a good month to look out for meadow brown,speckled wood and common blue butterflies.Birdfoot trefoil,knapweed and ox eye daisies are just a few flowers you might see them on. A walk through any woodland will bring up a male speckled wood, Fluttering in front of you then back down to their sunspot, This will most probably be the second generation this year of the speckled wood butterfly. The meadow brown is Britain's most common butterfly, Whats unusual about the meadow brown is that the female is brighter than the male.(male butterflies are normally brighter than the females).The female lays single eggs on grasses such as cocks foot, The caterpillars can live for up to nine months before they start hatching in the middle of June if the weather is warm enough.

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Banded demoiselle damsefly.

Banded damoseilles can now be seen up and down rivers and brooks, This will also mean that their are caddis and alder fly on the wing as well, As this is one of their main foods. A week fluttering flight,a more delicate build and the fact that a damselfly can hold their wings either vertically over their body like a butterfly or horizontally (a dragon fly only hold their wings horizontally) are the main differences from a damselfly to a dragon fly. Dog roses,campions,honeysuckle,elder flower and ragged robins are just a few plants you may see in flower during June. Particularly elder flower will encourage a whole host of insects to its beautiful flowers, Hover flies, wasps and bees will be drawn to the beautiful white flowers. Also look out for black,orange and brown soldier beetles, They are attracted to the flowers in the search of other insects for them to hunt. Also look out for either the black and yellow Caterpillar of the cinnabar moth or the moth itself depending once again on how warm it has been. The cinnabar moth is easily disturbed so look out for its lovely scarlet wings in flight. Finally a tale of two wonderful insects, Firstly the lesser stag beetle which is smaller than the stag beetle, This is still a wonderful beetle to see though, But neither the male or the female develop the large mandibles that the stag beetle develops(i will be talking about stag beetles next month). Secondly the scorpion fly, This actually related to the mecoptera order, This the same order as lace wings and alder flys. So its not the same as a house fly or a hover fly because they have a different metamorphose stage. I will be talking about metamorphism in a later post. Their name comes from the shape of the males sexual organs, Which are bulbous and resemble the tail part of a scorpion. They are at the tip of his body and are normally curled up over his wings. Scorpion flys are harmless and are mainly found along hedgerows and in gardens. They have long beak-like mouth parts which they use to eat either decaying plant material, or feeding on dead or wounded insects. The males are true gentlemen,offering gifts of saliva or guarding a food item from other males while emitting a pheromone to attract a female and once she is satisfied ,mating commences. Look out for little tadpoles of smooth newts around some ponds where you have seen them spawning in spring, Disturb the weeds around the warm edges of your newt pond and you should uncover Little newts,(their tadpoles are just smaller versions of the adult newts). The fluffy little things sticking out of the side of its head are their gills.