Species of the week: adder

After last week's freeze, it may seem strange to pick a reptile as the star species to look for from our Minsmere 70 species challenge, but March is always the best month to look for adders as the males emerge from hibernation.

As reported last week, before the big freeze, adders had been seen on several occasions both in North Bushes and along the Adder Trail in South Belt. With the arrival of snow and frost, those early adders no doubt returned to their underground hibernacula for a few days, but they were soon out and about again yesterday when one was seen basking in the morning sunshine along the Adder Trail.

Adder by Sue Stephenson-Martin

"Surely it's too cold for snakes!" is a familiar comment from visitors. Not really. Adders regularly occur north of the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia, and can emerge from hibernation briefly on sunny days even in December and January, so they won't be put off too much by a few cold days. Indeed, Davene (one of our guides), used a soil temperature probe yesterday to record temperatures close to the basking adder of around 11 degrees Celsius. Positively balmy.

One of the benefits of looking for adders in March is they tend to bask in the mornings until they have warmed up sufficiently, so they will often remain in the same location for several hours. The trick is to know where to look - and the subtleties of their plumage in comparison to the similarly coloured leaf litter. That's where our guides come in, as some of them have become experts at picking out adders. 

An adder hiding in the leaf litter

All adders seen at the moment will be males. The females emerge in early April, and then the fun begins as males fight over females in an elaborate "dance". This coincides perfectly with the Easter holidays this year, potentially giving many visitors the chance to spot an adder this spring. However, it's worth a look along the adder trail now as well.

There have been further signs of the coming spring since we reopened yesterday, following five days closed due to the snow. The first avocets and Mediterranean gulls have begun to return to the Scrape, albeit in very small numbers so far, but it's hopefully a sign of things to come. There were five avocets and three Mediterranean gulls on East Scrape this morning, for example. A few passage waders were seen on South Scrape, too, with single ringed and grey plovers and five dunlins today, and three knots yesterday.

Mediterranean gull by Christine Hall

In fact, there was a good variety of gulls seen yesterday including little gulls and kittiwakes offshore, the first winter glaucous gull on East Scrape, two yellow-legged gulls among the herring and great black-backed gulls, and perhaps most excitingly a Caspian gull on East Scrape. Now for some readers the words Caspian gull and excitement might not go together in the same sentence, but this particular individual has a story to tell. It was ringed in the Ukraine, and has been seen at various locations in England, Belgium and elsewhere, including previously at Minsmere. It's always nice to welcome a familiar bird back - identified by it's leg ring bearing the letters HCL23. What's more, it was reported on exactly the same date as it arrived last year.

With the wintry weather, it's no surprise that several of our long staying winter residents remain on show too. The two redhead smews had moved to Island Mere this morning, along with two goosanders - six of the latter were present yesterday. The family party of whooper swans appeared to have been joined by a six bird on Island Mere this morning, and the 14 Bewick's swans were again feeding in fields near Westleton. Flocks of  siskins remain in the woods too.

Sadly, the cold weather and easterly winds have taken their toll on some wildlife though, and two of our regulars made a gruesome count of corpses along the beach this morning. Just along the stretch from East Hide to the Sluice they counted the following casualties: four woodcocks, two teal, seven blackbirds, three kittiwakes, a common gull, a lapwing, two guillemots, a dunlin and at least two unidentifiable waders. All were, no doubt, victims of the cold, and their discoveries are no doubt just the tip of the iceberg!

To end on a more positive note though, our starlings have clearly benefited form the shared bodily warmth (to quote from my favourite James Bond film - quiz question - which one?). There were about 40000 starlings over the visitor centre just after 5 pm last night, putting on another fantastic display. It may be tricky to spot them tonight as the fog has rolled in, but we hope they'll e with us for a few more weeks before heading back to Scandinavia and Russia. Hurry though as the performances won't last far into the spring.