Meanwhile, across the pond, at 53 degres latitude N....

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WW**
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Meanwhile, across the pond, at 53 degres latitude N....

Post by WW** »

..... same latitude as the Labrador Coast or the southern end of Hudson's Bay:

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First North Wales Vipera berus of the season.
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JAMAUGHN
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Re: Meanwhile, across the pond, at 53 degres latitude N....

Post by JAMAUGHN »

Fantastic snakes. Thank you for sharing.

JimM
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krisbell
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Re: Meanwhile, across the pond, at 53 degres latitude N....

Post by krisbell »

Great capture - they're brave. Down in Jersey none of the green or wall lizards have made it out yet, so these adders are definitely putting them to shame.
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Ruxs
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Re: Meanwhile, across the pond, at 53 degres latitude N....

Post by Ruxs »

Great find, mate.
May I ask where in North Wales this is? Also, have you ever seen coronella austriaca in the UK?
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Rags
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Re: Meanwhile, across the pond, at 53 degres latitude N....

Post by Rags »

Great find on the early adder. Still searching here.

krisbell wrote;
Great capture - they're brave. Down in Jersey none of the green or wall lizards have made it out yet, so these adders are definitely putting them to shame.
South coast (Dorset) Wall lizards have been active all Winter. Any weak sunshine and they are out basking.

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(Podarcis muralis)
WW**
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Re: Meanwhile, across the pond, at 53 degres latitude N....

Post by WW** »

Ruxs wrote:Great find, mate.
May I ask where in North Wales this is? Also, have you ever seen coronella austriaca in the UK?
On Anglesey - and no, I have only seen Coronella once in the wild, and that was in Croatia 29 years ago....
dickbartlett
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Re: Meanwhile, across the pond, at 53 degres latitude N....

Post by dickbartlett »

Were I on my facebook page WW, I'd simply hit the like button. Here it is more difficult. I must actually type the word, so "LIKE."
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krisbell
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Re: Meanwhile, across the pond, at 53 degres latitude N....

Post by krisbell »

Rags wrote:Great find on the early adder. Still searching here.

krisbell wrote;
Great capture - they're brave. Down in Jersey none of the green or wall lizards have made it out yet, so these adders are definitely putting them to shame.
South coast (Dorset) Wall lizards have been active all Winter. Any weak sunshine and they are out basking.
Thats very interesting - I certainly havent seen a wall lizrd this winter. But as ridiculous luck would have it, not 3 hours after posting the above comment about green lizards, I saw two out this afternoon.
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Jeff
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Re: Meanwhile, across the pond, at 53 degres latitude N....

Post by Jeff »

Probably warmer than today at 31 degrees N in Louisiana, didn't quite hit 20 C, but then I'm 2 degrees north of Mt. Everest. When I lived in the Intermountain West (northern Arizona to Montana) the snakes would vanish, regardless of temperatures, in mid-October, and reappear only in late April. A stretch of warm weather in earlier April would do nothing, but in late April the reptiles were out regardless of snow banks.

By the way, Wolfgang, you are welcome for the Gulf Stream. We will keep sending it your way. My Grandfather was from Cornwall, and told me there were palm trees in Penzance (opposite northern end of Newfoundland by latitude). And, I'm sure you are up to it, but my Grandmother could spout Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch without a breath.

Jeff
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Re: Meanwhile, across the pond, at 53 degres latitude N....

Post by Shane_TX »

Probably warmer than today at 31 degrees N in Louisiana, didn't quite hit 20 C, but then I'm 2 degrees north of Mt. Everest.
No Thermophis and Gloydius reports lately? Must be winter doldrums in this herposphere. Interesting factoid that I never considered: chord-line navigation would offer a sight of Everest on a trip from the FL Keys to Okinawa (but not on a westward course). I'm gonna go find a copperhead and maybe an atrox tomorrow.

Shane
WW**
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Re: Meanwhile, across the pond, at 53 degres latitude N....

Post by WW** »

Jeff wrote:Probably warmer than today at 31 degrees N in Louisiana, didn't quite hit 20 C, but then I'm 2 degrees north of Mt. Everest. When I lived in the Intermountain West (northern Arizona to Montana) the snakes would vanish, regardless of temperatures, in mid-October, and reappear only in late April. A stretch of warm weather in earlier April would do nothing, but in late April the reptiles were out regardless of snow banks.

By the way, Wolfgang, you are welcome for the Gulf Stream. We will keep sending it your way. My Grandfather was from Cornwall, and told me there were palm trees in Penzance (opposite northern end of Newfoundland by latitude). And, I'm sure you are up to it, but my Grandmother could spout Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch without a breath.

Jeff
LOL - not a hope of my saying that without reading it, I'm afraid, Welsh has always been one language too far (especially since you don't need it when working in the Uni).

Interesting obs about the annual rhythm being so hard-wired into the more northern herps in AZ. That said, I was in SE AZ last year in late March, and hardly anything was moving...
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regalringneck
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Re: Meanwhile, across the pond, at 53 degres latitude N....

Post by regalringneck »

... agreed; the european adders simply rock. Those look like possibly 2 gravid females? They must overwinter their progeny? Assuming the high productivity of your emerald isle; i would expect them to be viperine-plump & hopefully dense in good reasonably protected habitat.
Jeff, while I agree and have observed much as you have, this past Nov., hunting along the s. rim at 6500', very cold at sunset thru ~ 11:30 in the day, yet i found walking; 3 separate gopher snakes out on the crawl; 2 yoy & 1 subadult female in good condition. ... global warming?
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justinm
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Re: Meanwhile, across the pond, at 53 degres latitude N....

Post by justinm »

These guys are so cold tolerant, I know I've seen Scandinavians posting them out on large patches of snow en situ. Nice finds and a good way to kick of your season.
WW**
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Re: Meanwhile, across the pond, at 53 degres latitude N....

Post by WW** »

regalringneck wrote:... agreed; the european adders simply rock. Those look like possibly 2 gravid females? They must overwinter their progeny? Assuming the high productivity of your emerald isle; i would expect them to be viperine-plump & hopefully dense in good reasonably protected habitat.
No, those are both males. They look very fat because they flatten themselves to a remarkable extent to maximise heat absorption. By and large, you only see males at this time of year. Females usually give birth before the onset of the winter and emerge from hibernation a few weeks after the first males. That said, one of my colleagues saw a female yesterday, and there have been reports of some females having overwintered gravid after the very poor summer we had last year.

Adders can be locally abundant, and are easy to find if you know exactly where to look (a bit like timber rattlers if you know the densite), but they are very much on the retreat natiownide due to a wide variety of factors including poor habitat management, excess human disturbance, habitat fragmentation and destruction, etc.

Oh, and Great Britain is the Sceptered Isle (or the Septic Isle, as I tend to all it during the cold and flu season....), the Emerald Isle is Ireland, just to the west of here, and a seriously disappointing destination for any snake lover ;)
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regalringneck
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Re: Meanwhile, across the pond, at 53 degres latitude N....

Post by regalringneck »

... ha, id forgot about the other green island, hhmm mebbe w/ the pope calling it quits, we can right that historic wrong :p
On a serious note tho, surely the british isles have drifted apart from each other and away from the mainland, what is the contemporary rationale for neither the grass snake nor the adder occurring in ireland? Do your slow worms (Anguis) live there?
Nice to see your occasional posts here & next time you visit SE Az ... drop me a line 1st & we'll make sure the herps are out n about! / rxr
WW**
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Re: Meanwhile, across the pond, at 53 degres latitude N....

Post by WW** »

regalringneck wrote:... ha, id forgot about the other green island, hhmm mebbe w/ the pope calling it quits, we can right that historic wrong :p
On a serious note tho, surely the british isles have drifted apart from each other and away from the mainland, what is the contemporary rationale for neither the grass snake nor the adder occurring in ireland? Do your slow worms (Anguis) live there?
Both Britain and Ireland were connected to the European mainland at times of low sea levels during the ice ages. Ireland was separated from Britain by rising post-glacial sea levels before Britain itself became severed from the continent, so it was basically matter of speed of range expansion whether any given species made it to Ireland or not. In this case, the only reptile that made it to Ireland before its split from Great Britain was the vivparous lizard Zootoca vivipara, whereas adders, grass snakes and slow worms only made it to the Irish Sea shoreline in time to wave them good-bye as rising sea levels made Ireland more and more inaccessible for terrestrial animals.
Nice to see your occasional posts here & next time you visit SE Az ... drop me a line 1st & we'll make sure the herps are out n about! / rxr
I will be sure to do that! I intend to be around quite a bit during the monsoon period.
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regalringneck
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Re: Meanwhile, across the pond, at 53 degres latitude N....

Post by regalringneck »

... as usual thnx for the info & insights & i'll look forward to your passing by this way :)
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