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.

Habitats.

Part two the garden pond.

Garden ponds have become life savers for Britain's frogs,newts and toads in the past thirty years. This is because so many of farm and village ponds have been filled in or polluted. Garden ponds will also benefit gardeners because the amphibians they attract will eat slugs, snails and insects. Ponds will attract bathing birds like blackbirds, which in turn may feed on tadpoles. Grass snakes may also be seen in the pond. Foxes may also be seen drinking from our garden ponds. If a pond has smooth sides then hedgehogs may fall into them but can`t climb out, this may cause them to drown. But by putting a little bit of wire mesh, hanging in the water on one corner will enable them to escape. Whether the pond is made from an old bucket or sink it will soon colonised by insects such as pond skater or lesser water boatman. May, damsel and dragon flies will also be seen flying over the pond hoping to catch flies. A few jars of natural pond water tipped into the pond will add plankton, water snails and even water beetles. Frogs and toad will eventually come across the pond, toads generally prefer deeper water to toads, so depending on the size of the pond it will determine whether you will attract toads or frogs. The frogs or toads will leave the pond,  after about two or three years they will will return to the same pond to breed. Newts to will find their own way to the pond. Long grass by the ponds edge will provide cover for the froglets when they leave the pond in June or July. Tadpoles normally prefer to be in a shallow area of the pond where it will be warmer. The resident fish will eat the tadpoles, sometimes quite a few will be taken by fish.  A rockery is a good idea for frogs and toads to hide in during the day. If there is plenty of undergrowth bank voles or wood mice may move in.

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.                            

Things to look our for in august

A slow worm

Roe deer`s are very territorial in the summer and rut during August, They are not as aggressive as the red and fallow deer ruts. The two male (bucks) roe deers do not normally fight they just normally walk around in circles which are called roe rings. They then win the right to mate with the female (doe) who will decide when they mate. The kids are born in June because the does have delayed implantation of the embryo which i will talk about in a later blog. Grass snakes and slow worms have their young during august, The grass snakes hatch out of their eggs and slow worms break out of the membrane that they are born in. Rough grass lands,heath and woodlands are some of the places they may be seen. Look at the oak trees you will see a second growth of the year. New fresh stems and leaves at the tips of the branches. These are known as the lammas growth. They are called the lammas growth because it ties in with the pagan festival of lammas. By the end of August toads will be heading back to their hibernation sites. These sites could be as close as the rockery in the back of your garden. August is a great time of the year to look out for cinnabar moths.Their caterpillar's have been enjoying life on common ragwort but now its time for the adult`s to take over. They may be seen in meadows and espeicially on knapweed. Crickets and grass hoppers can be seen and heard during August. Grass hoppers have short antennae and crickets have long atennae. The common green grass hopper can be heard during August if you have a keen ear.(all the crickets and grasshoppers have different calls) The common green grasshopper is smaller and greener than common field grass hopper and can be found in grassy areas throughout Britain. Rowan berries ripen this month and their distinctive red colouration brightens up our countryside and tells us all that Autumn is around the corner. Longhorn beetles, Woodmice, Bumble bees, Common wasps and speckled wood butterflies enjoy the splender of blackberries that are amongst our hedgerows during August. When you go out blackberry picking remember to leave some for our friends in the hedgerows. Willow herb flowers are full of lovely colours this month along with may weeds. Listen out for shrews while taking a stroll in the country side, Shrews have a high pitched squeak and they can often be heard as they run through the tunnels in the long grass searching for earthworms and invertbrates. Because shrews have to find almost their own bodyweight in food everyday to survive they are always on the move looking for prey to eat. Look out for brimstone butterflies as they look for food on sunny days before they get ready to hibernate. The brimstone butterfly is the only member of the white (pierinae) family to hibernate, All the other member which also includes the yellows (coliadinae) and a sub-family (dismorphiinae) of which the wood white is the only British member hibernate as chrsalises. House martins and swallows may be having late broods this year as they were quite late arriving. They will be fine though, They will start migrating along with swifts during late September and early October.

A muntjac deer.

Common water plants suitable for small garden ponds.

Deeper water.

Hornwort, Water-crowfoot, Spiked water-milfoil, Curled pondweed, Willowmoss. Try to avoid plants that will quickly take over like Canadian pondweed, New zealand stonecrop and azolla.

Floating leaved plants.

Fringed, Yellow and white water Lily's, Water soldier, Potamogeton.

Shallow/ Ledge plants.

Water forget me-nots, Water mint, Yellow flag iris, Water plantain, Branched bur reed and arrowhead.

Marsh/sedge plants.

Meadowsweet, Purple loosestrife, Lady`s smock, Gipsywort, Ragged-robin, Marsh marigold, Brooklime and rushes and sedges.

After you have planted some of these plants then you should then start to attract, Mayflies, Dragonflies, Damselflies, Pond skaters, Lesser water boatmen, Great diving beetles, Whirligig beetles, Common frogs, Frog-spawn, smooth newts, Eggs from newts(Newts individually wrap their eggs in water plant leaves), Aquatic snails and maybe even grass snakes.

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 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.

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