More beautiful smooth snakes

Our most endangered reptiles are busy basking and getting ready to give birth. Some juveniles from last year are also on the move looking for baby lizards and insects to feed on. These larger individuals were basking together on the heath and are in superb condition. Smooth snakes are incredibly rare and it is an honour to be able to see and photograph them like this. They are very vulnerable to heath fires and their continued existence is tenuous indeed.....

Glorious Snakes

As if by magic, the heath ecosystem is changing. The stonechats have vanished with their newly fledged young and male dartford warblers are singing actively from the tops of gorse bushes. The nightjars have switched their timings too. Instead of beginning to sing at 9.33pm every night, they now begin to churr loudly and continuosly at 7.33 pm. This is a phenomenon occuring on several heaths locally so the nightjars must have changed their timings for a reason. Snakes are basking in some numbers and I have been lucky enough to encounter several smooth snakes together recently. I even found a baby one, barely six inches long!

Carolina Wood Duck and Mandarin Duck - Living wild in Surrey

These two marvellous ducks are living wild in Surrey!!! Although they are closely related they occur in different parts of the world. The wood duck is from the USA and the mandarin duck is from Japan, where it is highly endangered. Thankfully there are large numbers of mandarins living wild in the Uk. They are like beautiful swift ghosts when seen at dusk flying down a forest stream. The River Dart in Devon has a breeding population nesting in tree holes high above the rushing torrent. The wood duck is much rarer in the Uk but still common in the USA.