Last Trip Before Lockdown

The weekend was a little different, with the visitor centre already shut, so Mrs WJ & I left the big lens behind and walked around the bulk of the trails with only the "little" kit for company.  Now of course none of us can get anywhere near the reserve - the gates are shut, the hides are locked and we're all banned from leaving the sofa.  I thought by now everyone would be missing the wildlife, so here you are, a smorgasbord of stuff from the weekend's wanderings.

Marsh Harriers were cruising the reedbeds

and the crows were poking around in front of the hide, looking extra glossy in the sunshine

Many of the bushes along the paths are filling up with incoming regulars, but the friendly robin was the only one willing to come close enough for the hardware I had with me

The scrapes still had a fair few ducks around - including this handsome Shoveller

and the very smart Shelduck

There are still Wigeon around too

Cormorants flying overhead were showing off their wonderful breeding plumage

Most of the noise is coming from the Black Headed Gulls of course

They're getting all loved up as we move towards their breeding season

Gadwall are pairing up too, the males chasing off the competition

Even the Coot are showing well for a change

The sunny weather had brought the Adders out to bask

Often pancaking themselves to get as much sunshine as possible

And why?  Because they need to get fertile ready for the ladies - and it seems fitting to finish with exactly that - the girls are starting to appear!

Parents
  • There we are I am only missing three now, at least I get to see the adders pancaking themselves to sunbathe, lovely, they look huge but are only about 3ft or so long I believe?
  • Oh dear. your BB speed must be a bit limiting - roll on next month I reckon! The pics are all hosted on my Flickr - you may find they display faster if you take a look on there (link below).
    Adders typically get to around 2ft for males, 2ft 6 inch for females. 3ft ones can be found in Scandanavian countries, but are very unusual here. They're not large snakes at all, but they always seem to look bigger than they are to our brains. It's probably down to the same gene that measures the fish that got away :-)
Reply
  • Oh dear. your BB speed must be a bit limiting - roll on next month I reckon! The pics are all hosted on my Flickr - you may find they display faster if you take a look on there (link below).
    Adders typically get to around 2ft for males, 2ft 6 inch for females. 3ft ones can be found in Scandanavian countries, but are very unusual here. They're not large snakes at all, but they always seem to look bigger than they are to our brains. It's probably down to the same gene that measures the fish that got away :-)
Children
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