Why snakes and lizards bask in the sun.

Although reptiles such as snakes and lizards are usually described as cold-blooded,they spend much of their lives with their bodies nearly as warm as in a warm-blooded animal. What they lack is a means of producing and maintaining their own body heat. To reach a body temperature at which muscles, senses and digestion are fully active (about 77-90f and 25-32c), they have to rely on outside heat-either conducted from their surroundings or, more often, direct from the sun`s rays. In Britain, reptiles are dormant in winter because they cannot reach their working temperatures. In spring they emerge on sunny days, but the sunshine is so weak they need to bask almost all of the time.  As the sun gets stronger, basking time is shorter-mainly early and late in the day- and there is time for hunting and breeding. By midsummer basking is hardly necessary, but as autumn comes the need increases, and finally the animals are forced into hibernation. Reptile species that bear live young can usually survive in cooler climates than those that lay eggs, by basking during pregnancy, they can get enough heat to ensure faster development of the young but warmth cannot ensured for the eggs. This is one reason why the adder and the common lizard, which bear live young, can live further north than the grass snake and sand lizard, which lay eggs.

Things to look out for in October.

By now leaves are starting to fall from all of our deciduous trees. Because of the process of abscission we can start to see all the different colours as the leaves start to fall. Red wings and field fares are starting to make the long journey from Scandinavia. During the evening you can sometimes hear the chack chack chack from these birds as they fly over head. Both of these birds are from the thrush family and may sometimes be seen in a mixed species flock which may include blackbirds and song thrushes.Red deer and fallow deer begin their rut during October.  Red deer stags will try to hold onto their harem in the rutting stands and mate with as many hinds as possible, they will try and hold as many hinds as possible in their harum. They will face competition from other stags though, Male stags will thrash around in the under growth and bellow as loud as they can. They do this to show their dominance but quite often after a lot of parallel walking the two stags will finally come to blows. Sometimes the fights can end in one of the stags dying, The stags don`t eat during the rut and lose a lot of weight and can become very tired. During the rest of the year the stags all live together in herds. The fruit bodies of fungi are abundant during October as they release their spores. Fly agaric is the most famous of our fungi but be careful as it is highly poisonous. But one mushroom you can eat is the penny bun which as their name suggests look like an old penny bun that you could buy from a bakery. The penny bun belongs to the boletus family, easily recognised by their plump look and spongy sporing surface.The tawny owl is probably one of the easiest owls to see, especially at this time of the year when it is getting territorial again and responds well to impersonations. Tawny owls are setting up territories at this time of year, pairing off and searching out nesting sites. The males will bring their females food as part of their courtship ritual. The young will be ousted from the territory in which they were raised. They must find a territory that will supply them with enough food through winter, They must also find suitable roosting sites and nest holes for the breeding season. Garden orb spiders can be seen almost everywhere during this month. They are actually their during the whole year bot are more noticeable with all the autumn dew on them. Most of the males have died by now and its the females that are on the webs. Galls can be seen on some of the leaves falling from the trees. Galls are mainly the products of the activities of a group of minute insects known as gall wasps. Spangle galls look like little flying saucers, But they are actually the little homes of tiny wasp grubs,which are a well known snack for birds. Flocks of bramblings and chaffinches feast on them over the winter months. Grass snakes and adders will be starting to look for hiberaculums to hibernate in over winter. Sweet chestnuts and horse chestnuts will litter floors when you are walking through woodlands. Natterer`s bat will be starting to look for winter roosting site where they will hibernate. Although this small bat may not finally hibernate until the end of November. They may hibernate in caves or in hollow trees if caves are not available. On cool wet night`s look out for violet ground beetle`s which can be recognised by a clean-cut appearance,long legs, big eyes and a powerful set of mandibles. They are mainly nocturnal and enjoy the moist autumnal air. As their name suggests they have got a violet tinge to them and are a perfect assassin , using their mandibles like a pair of bolt cutters, taking out and slicing up any invertebrate they come across from woodlice,garden snails and great black slugs.

                                                         Garden orb spider.                            

Ways to help you look for snakes.

1, When looking for snakes(grass or adders) its crucial to make an early start, You must start looking no later than one and a half hours after sunrise. Late march through to early june is the best time to look for snakes.

2, It must be a sunny day, Snakes will not come out if it is raining.

3, Always walk with a gentle heel-toe movement.

4, Always keep an eye on where your shadow is falling.

5, Remember its not the noise you make that they can hear, Its the vibration through the ground that will affect the snake.

6, An adder will find a basking point, After she has found it,she will then flatten her body down so she can then maximise the amount of solar radiation she can absorb.

7, After a snake has sluffed its skin it stays in the vegetation, Look out for the sluffed skin as its a good field skill to show you that there are snakes in the area.

8, An adder is our only venomous reptile, But don`t be afraid of the adder. Be cautious when you are near them. Don`t go picking them up just respect them and you will be fine.

9, They won`t come out at you, They will try and disappear as they are not aggressive .

10, Remember to look in a habitat that might suit a snake, A heathland, A wood or low lying vegetation are good places to start.

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 april.

Swallows nesting in spring.

The beautiful spring mornings are finally here for us all to see,Ive just got back from a weeks holiday in north wales and there was not a drop of rain in sight.Bluebells,ramsons and hawthorn blossom are sights that we should now be able to see during April as the climate starts to get warmer.Bluebells and ramsons will carpet the woodland floor,While the hawthorn blossom should lighten up many a hedgerow in Worcestershire.You should be able to see the first house martins and swallows as they return from their epic trip to south Africa.Badger cubs make their first appearance above ground during April,Dusk is a really good time to go and watch them.Its also a good time to look out for wood mice rustling in the leaf litter as you walk through the wood.The sound of the cuckoo is the day i say spring has arrived,The cuckoo is a migrant from Africa and will use meadow pipits,reed warblers and dunnocks nest for themselves to lay their eggs.When the cuckoo chick hatches it instinctively pushed the other chick or egg out of the nest,So the adoptive parents tend purely for the cuckoo chick.Blackbirds,starlings and song thrushes are also really busy this month.Also look out for the Ariel displays of skylarks and meadow pipits.Orange tip butterfly's start to emerge during April around plants from the crucifer family in particular the Lady's smock,Laying their eggs on the leaves of the plant,They then feed as caterpillars on the mustard oils of their food plants.Its a good time of year to see grass snakes,adders and slow warms basking in the spring sunshine. Newts start mating from now as well so look in the shallows of your pond or someone elses and you may see them.The male woos the female with his tail flicking performance,and his bold marking on his body. You probably wont see the female laying her eggs, She wraps a living leaf around each one of her eggs,The leaves will then be bent over with a single egg inside.Start to look out for vixens with her fox cubs as well

things to look out for in march.

A common frog.

Its been a little bit colder this winter so everything is a couple of weeks later than normal.The equinox is here on the 21`st of march and that marks the first day of spring.As a pagan i celebrate the equinox as a really important festival because of all of the life that's now starting to manifest in so many different shapes and colours.Bluebells,ramsons,wood anemones and flowering hawthorn blossom are four things to look out for as we move into spring.There is something special about walking through a woodland when the bluebells are in flower.In my experiences trench wood by sale green is my favourite woodland for bluebells.Greater spotted woodpeckers are normally hidden from view,But you might be lucky like me and have one visit your feeders in your garden.If you don`t see one in your garden than head out to the woods with a dead stick,Find a hollow-sounding tree trunk and hammer the trunk in small bursts as fast as you can.With luck your hammering will encourage a territorial woodpecker to come and investigate your hammering,Giving you a lovely view of the bird.common Frog spawn should start to appear from now onwards as common frogs are the earliest amphibians to emerge from hibernation and will head straight towards their breeding grounds ,common Frog spawn is always in a ball whereas toad spawn is always in a line.Towards the end of spring tiny little tadpoles will start to emerge in lakes and ponds throughout Worcestershire.March is the best month to look out for brown hares as well,Brown hares may be seen courting in any month but because there is no lush vegetation for them to hide in march is a good month to spot them.Lowland pasture or ploughed fields are good places to look for them.Robins,Blackbirds,Blue and Great tits and song thrushes should be able to be heard now staking out their territories.Look out for where these birds are singing as it will normally be overlooking their territories.Also look out for our commonest newt,the smooth newt which resembles a smaller and slicker version of the greater crested newt.Toads and the other two species of newts,greater crested and the palm newt will all breed as well through march.Adders will start to emerge from hibernation as well as it starts to get warmer.
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Small tortoiseshell on a spear thistle.

Brimstone,comma,peacock and small tortoiseshells should be out being seduced by the beautiful spring sunshine.Primroses should be out in force by the end of march,They get their name from the words prima rose meaning the first rose but they are not actually a rose.Bumble bees such as bombus pratorum and bombus hortorum will be seen visiting long tubular flowers,the first can be identified by an orange band on its abdomen and the latter by a white band on its abdomen.Buzzards can be seen as they hunt over meadowland,They are getting ready to have their young later on in spring.Normally they would be looking for carrion but at the start of the year they can be seen hunting.