Rammamere Heath & King's Wood NNR

It has taken over twenty years of (casual) searching to find an Adder on Rammamere Heath (Buckinghamshire). Not suprising, however, as a great deal was learnt in April on how to best locate them. Weather-wise it was sunny intervals (4/8 Octas), with the mercury approaching 14 Celcius and a coolish SSW wind at Beaufort 3-4. This individual was basking out of the wind on the sunny side of a tangle of dead bracken and birch branches.

Canon 40D, Tamron 180mm macro,
1/200sec, f / 10, ISO 200, tripod

There were plenty of male Green Longhorn Adela reaumurella moths on the wing around the birch saplings.

Ants and Adders

What promised to be the sunniest day over the Easter period did not quite live up to expectations. The chance to photograph an Adder in Bedfordshire was, however, realised. There were four or five females on show by mid-morning as the sun tried to burn off the cloud.  Some were seen to increase their surface area by flattening their bodies and therefore increasing the warming effect of the sun.

Image taken with the Tamron macro (still getting to know this lens). The cloudy eye suggests sloughing of the skin will be soon

Canon 350D, Tamron 180mm macro,
1/125th sec, f /10, ISO 400, handheld

There were a number of active Wood Ant nests over the site. They cannot sting but do bite and can spray formic acid.