Five reptiles of three species today, and not a leg in sight. A Grass Snake and a couple of Slow Worms at home were followed by a walk up to Cissbury in the hope of some migrants and a chance of seeing our Adders again. The migrants didn’t turn up (other than a Swallow late in the day), but the Adders did, with two (one of which we didn’t see last week). One of them was chilled enough to allow a close approach and even a bit of gentle gardening to allow some decent pictures. For some reason I decided against trying to move the stick that was lying on it.
Ssssstrictly Cissssbury
We had a quick dash up to Cissbury Ring yesterday, when Nick & Claire found a Ring Ouzel. I arrived before Karen and had nice, but distant views for about 15 minutes: a stunning male. Unfortunately it disappeared completely just as I was getting Karen onto it: she arrived literally 5 s too late.
Today we headed up there again, in the hope of finding it again and also looking for Adders, which are there, but I haven’t seen one anywhere in a couple of years. We were unsuccessful, drawing a blank on the Ouzel and finding only a discarded Adder skin, until we got a call from Nick: they had refound the bird. This time Karen got there in time and was able to admire it before it again vanished. On the way back we went over to show them the skin, when Nick found a basking Adder, very smart. After a sit and look for an Ouzel (no luck, but Karen found another Black Redstart) we went our separate ways. Checking on the Adder location (in hope rather than expectation) we found two Adders dancing: only the second time we’ve ever seen it (and both times I’ve managed to get some pictures). Not a bad day!