Dead Grass Snakes (1 Viewer)

[Dipper]

I found 4 young dead grass snakes today within a few metres of each other at Chambers Farm Wood, Lincolnshire UK, on one of the main rides. Would this likely be due to natural causes or human interference? Could the recent wet,cold snap, be the cause, or do young snakes in the UK have a dangerous first few months of life.

Thanks
Adi

 

[LAF]

They do get predated a lot when young, and hatchlings often fair poorly their first hibernation, but you wouldn't find the bodies in the open (or at all if they were eaten). This sounds like human action to me. It hasn't been cold enough recently to cause any problems.

It's probably worth dropping an email to the FC rangers for that area, which would be [email protected] and letting them know about what you found.

Lee.

 

[Dipper]

Thanks Lee, email sent to the FC

Adi

 

[Isurus]

I found 4 young dead grass snakes today within a few metres of each other at Chambers Farm Wood, Lincolnshire UK, on one of the main rides. Would this likely be due to natural causes or human interference? Could the recent wet,cold snap, be the cause, or do young snakes in the UK have a dangerous first few months of life.

Thanks
Adi

Hi Adi - I saw my first adder and slow worm in that wood! At risk of asking a silly question, were they definitely dead? They do have a play-dead response to ward off predators I understand.

 

[Dipper]

Oh yes, very very dead, for several days at least.

I'm surprised you've seen an adder there as officially there are none, although I thought I saw the tail end of one 2 years ago. Supposed to be too wet for them there. But I've seen adders in Finland in marshy areas. Is it just another case of a species being marginalised in the UK and therefore we assume that they behave the same all over their range?

Adi

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/atteuk2003/my_photos

 

[John Dixon]

Oh yes, very very dead, for several days at least.

I'm surprised you've seen an adder there as officially there are none, although I thought I saw the tail end of one 2 years ago. Supposed to be too wet for them there. But I've seen adders in Finland in marshy areas. Is it just another case of a species being marginalised in the UK and therefore we assume that they behave the same all over their range?

Adi

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/atteuk2003/my_photos

Adders are not actually that bothered by water. I have seen them in the middle of Thursley bog basking on islands of vegetation to which they could only have got by swimming. There was a bit about them on Mersea Island on TV a few weeks ago in which the local rangers said they occasionally get washed off the sea wall by waves and then swim back to shore!

Moral: Don't assume they ain't there just because its wet!

John

 

[Isurus]

Oh yes, very very dead, for several days at least.

I'm surprised you've seen an adder there as officially there are none, although I thought I saw the tail end of one 2 years ago. Supposed to be too wet for them there. But I've seen adders in Finland in marshy areas. Is it just another case of a species being marginalised in the UK and therefore we assume that they behave the same all over their range?

Adi

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/atteuk2003/my_photos

hmmm you've got me questioning my memory now (although it was 14 years ago) as I'm thinking it may have been another reserve in Lincs. My watch group visited it (I was 12) and we saw 3 adders, 2 grass snakes and then I spotted a slow worm and bathed in glory.

 

[Dipper]

hmmm you've got me questioning my memory now (although it was 14 years ago) as I'm thinking it may have been another reserve in Lincs. My watch group visited it (I was 12) and we saw 3 adders, 2 grass snakes and then I spotted a slow worm and bathed in glory.

I think Kirkby Moor is the reserve you are thinking about.

 

[Dipper]

Adders are not actually that bothered by water. I have seen them in the middle of Thursley bog basking on islands of vegetation to which they could only have got by swimming. There was a bit about them on Mersea Island on TV a few weeks ago in which the local rangers said they occasionally get washed off the sea wall by waves and then swim back to shore!

Moral: Don't assume they ain't there just because its wet!

John

I've seen them swimming on my travels, do most snakes swim? When I saw the tail end a couple of years ago I was told by those in the know here that the ground at Chambers is too wet for adders. I know of another possible sighting there which was also rejected. I keep looking for them. So many observers are used to only seeing them on dry, sandy, heathland soil that they cannot accept the possibility that they will and do live elsewhere.

 

[Isurus]

I think Kirkby Moor is the reserve you are thinking about.

Reading the reserve description I think you must be right.

 

[Dipper]

Reading the reserve description I think you must be right.

Time for another visit. There are several good reserves in the area with good birds and insects plus reptiles. Make a day of it to get it all in.

Adi

 

[LAF]

If you're visiting Kirkby Moor be sure to pay a visit to Moor Farm as well, just a few hundred yards away on the road opposite the Kirkby Moor Entrance. Both reserves hold four reptile species.

As for adders in boggy areas, no problems. I know a number of popultions that reside on bogs and fens and thrive in damp conditions. They even eat frogs quite happily.

Lee.

 

[Dipper]

Thanks Lee

I shall keep a keen look out for them, even more so, at Chambers. They are in there somewhere, but I'll need a photo to prove it.

Be careful at Moor Farm though, regular break ins at the car park. A friend lost a brand new Manfrotto there last year.

Adi

 

[Dipper]

Back to Chambers today and found not 4 dead snakes but 8 in the same area. A couple of photos of a well eaten body and another with a bit of meat left on. Burying beetles including Oiceoptoma thoracicum seem to have had a feast recently.

 

[Dipper]

Back again today and found 9, must have missed one Saturday.