YETI Resurrection

So you are all thinking that we got bored, fed up of posting, became overawed by the 3,000 species target and crumbled under the pressure. Well, not quite, I was just briefly lost in the ecological wilderness. May is an exceptionally busy time to be an ecologist, so I have had to put the blog on the back-burner, but myself and the rest of the team have still be clocking up species for the cause behind the scenes. I will try to highlight some of Mays additions to the list over the next couple of posts and try to stay on track with what the team find during June.

A Soprano Pipistrelle bat, roosting in a crevice on a building. Soprano pipistrelle and common pipistrelle were only recognised as different species as early as 1992. 

Male 3 spined stickleback top and male 9 spined stickleback bottom, the Yeti fish list is surprisingly progressing quite well without having to do to much pond dipping just yet (but watch the space).  

Helophilus pendulus a rather attractive hoverfly associated with ponds, a regular garden pond visitor.  

Corn bunting have declined considerably but there still seems to be good numbers on the Wolds. 

Hobby, one of the latest migrant birds to arrive back at their breeding grounds, we just need honey buzzard, turtle dove and nightjar of the late common migrants. 

Female Dytiscus marginalis a frequently encountered species so far in 2013. 

Common pipistrelle in a building, common pipistrelles are extremely well adapted to urban environments, this tiny roost in a door frame contained two bats. 

Male common frog, purely because we don't have any common frog photos yet. 

One of my photographic targets for 2013 (watch the space) a rather crude photograph of a water vole

Pisaura mirabilis the nursery web spider, a species common found within ruderal vegetation stands

Plenty more great crested newts throughout May, to keep my newt fix going. 

The moors are now full of breeding waders like this curlew.

Great crested grebes are showing well across the recording area in a range of waterbodies.

A Male Roe deer coming into its summer coat.

Kleptoparasitism between a common tern and black headed gull and presumably either a roach, rudd or dace in the terns beak. 

Plenty of Marsh harrier movement across the region, this one was shot from the back garden. 

Little Gull

Bullhead as well as greyling, brown trout, rainbow trout, minnow, the two stickleback (mentioned above), roach, rudd, dace and perch make up the freshwater fish list so far. 

There certainly seems to be a short supply of butterflies so far this year, hopefully we will see a good breeding season and recovery. Peacock. 

Sedge warbler

Lesser Whitethroat 

Worm by Name Worm by Nature

The face of a slow worm portrays that of a lizard rather than a snake, with a notable eyelid. 

Of all our reptiles slow worms must be the least seen, although I can find them relatively easily, I rarely come across them by chance, without looking. This is largely due to their secretive, subterranean existence and preference for not basking in the open (with occasional exceptions). Slow worms are lizards rather than snakes, as their eyelids show (a feature missing in snakes), a close look at the face also shows that of a lizard , the tongue flickers but is un-snake like despite being notched it lacks the deep fork we see in snakes, also the mouth lack a groove for the tongue to enter and exit. Slow worms also have very lizard like scales, and are shed piecemeal rather than in one piece, as we see in snakes.

Slow worms have wide tongues, with a grove in the end, unlike the forked tongue of a snake. Although if you get this close to one and you still don't know if its a snake or lizard, good luck :).  

Slow worms unlike snakes tend not to bask in the open but regularly bask within vegetation where light can penetrate through it. They thermoregulate by basking under refuge such as sheets of tin, sacking and natural mats of bracken, stones and logs where they can absorb warmth via body contact with the material in which they are hiding under. Slow worms are also regularly found in compost heaps as well as ant hills, and like their name suggests are very good at burrowing in loose soil and decaying vegetation. Slow worms spend a great deal of their time buried in loose soil or underground in cracks, crevices and rodent burrows. Hibernation occurs in similar places deep enough to avoid frost penetration. Slow worms tend to emerge from hibernation slightly later than adders and common lizards with which they share their habitats locally. Although the first individuals are found around March, numbers tend to peak around May/June.

Slow worms tend not to bask in the open, however individuals are occasionally found in the open, close to cover. 

Slow worms like adders are not a species adapted to overly warm conditions and summer periods of drought with high temperatures causes them to retreat deep underground. Handling slow worms is unadvisable like with other reptiles they are delicate creatures and can easily be damaged. The latin name Anguis fragilis literally means fragile snake, as the slow worm will readily shed its tail, which continues to thrash helping distract would be predators. Like in other lizards the tail never truly grows back, but grows into a blunt cap.

The photos show Male slow worms, females tend to show darker flanks and undersides and have a smaller thinner head. 

Slow worms can often be found after light rain or dew early in the morning or in the evening in the summer when the white netted slug (seen in an earlier post) is present. Small slugs are a key component of the diet as are other soft bodied invertebrates like worms, snails, spiders and insect larvae. Despite often associating with ants nests, ants are not considered to be a significant part of the diet. Prey is detected similarly to snakes with scent particles picked up on the flickering tongue, with prey movement triggering the strike.

Slow worms show a clear neck. 

Like the common lizard and adder, slow worms give birth to live young, mating occurs later than the other local reptiles, around June. Mating is quite aggressive with males biting the back of the females head and entwining himself around her, males will also occasionally fight with one another over a female. Copulation can take upto 10 hours and is rarely observed (like courtship) as it predominantly occurs in subterranean hideaways like much of this species life. Gravid females bask longer and spend more time in open sunlight, they also continue to feed during pregnancy unlike most of our other reptile species. Young are usually born between August and September.

Slow worms can be very long lived with the record being 54 years for a captive specimen in Denmark. 

Slow worms are a relatively long lived species, which lives longer than most other similar sized vertebrates with 10-15 years being quite normal. A record of 54 years in captivity shows the age the species can potentially achieve with few environmental pressures. Predators include crows, birds of prey, foxes, rats and hedgehogs. Occasionally adders and grass snakes will eat slow worms, but the impact of these two predators in negligible.   

In addition to slow worms, its hard not to find adders at the moment with numerous individuals out basking in the thin cloud today. 

Adders flatten their body to absorb as much heat from the sun as possible, especially on days like today which had thin cloud and no direct sunlight. 

I was so preoccupied with photographing slow worms I almost rolled onto this adder. He was very confiding and allowed some photos, although by this point it had clouded in. Perhaps the largest male I have found this year, a striking animal.  

You know its a good day when you have 3 species of reptiles at your feet and ospreys migrating north over your head. 

Daydreaming

It's been a very long, very cold winter, but now thankfully we have a bit of sun and warmth I can stop daydreaming, get out there and cause some damage to the YETI list. Today I spent the best part of 12 hours in the field, got within centimetres from adders, watched deer, viewed migrant birds returning to their breeding grounds, found two new badger setts, a new great crested newt population and observed numerous invertebrates (amongst other things). Here are some highlights (Sorry to zonked to write much of a blog, enjoy the photographs).

Although common species, its great to hear the dawn chorus at this time of year, with robins a personal favourite and one of the first species to start singing.  

Woodpigeons breed for most of the year, this pair were participating in a little allopreening. 

Chiffchaffs continue to trickle in along the coast, gorse bushes offer an important supply of small insects and spiders for these small warblers to top up their fat reserves.

 Willow warblers are also starting to become numerous, a species which usually arrives slightly later than chiffchaffs. Both species have distinctive songs and calls. 

Spring remains a good time to see roe deer before the vegetation gets too overgrown. These two were browsing above a badger sett. 

May represents the time of year that most roe deer give birth, one or two females are starting to look about ready to burst. This species usually gives birth to twins.

There's plenty going on in the ponds too, with the toads spawning. 

This poor female is trying to fight off these two males. 

Palmate newt numbers (as well as Great crested and smooth) are continuing to increase within ponds. 

A poor quality image of a female Dytiscus marginalis (a species of great diving beetle). These chaps will be getting ready to dine on tadpoles and newts.  

Another pond predator Notonecta glauca the common backswimmer, a water bug which often hunts on insects which have fallen into the pond

There's plenty of primrose in flower dotted around the region, particularly in open woodland. 

Plenty of adders on show today also, mainly in areas sheltered from the breeze, unfortunately none of them wanted to have their photo taken and chose to sit behind vegetation. Both of these males are getting ready to shed their skin, hence the milky eyes.

Large numbers of common lizards also seem to be everywhere at the moment. This green male has quite interesting markings. 

It was good to see plenty of the beefly Bombylius major around, in heathland, woodland edge, coastal cliffs and even in the back garden.  

Drinker moth larvae are starting to wake up in good numbers, I often find them along the cliff tops often where bramble grows. 

Green Tiger Cicinela campestris beetles are an ultimate heathland predator, there were large numbers of them around the moors today. Quite stunning insects. 

Kidney spot ladybird, a local species across Britain, is found within this region. 

Yellow dung flies on sheep poo, not a pleasant sight, but an interesting and important species. 

Plenty of small tortoiseshell nectaring on coltsfoot

 Also numerous individuals basking in the sunlight and warmth.