Adder Courtship

Adders - Vipera berus

Here's some video footage of adders flirting and fighting over the last three days:

Spring Toads

Common toad - Bufo bufo. A male toad on station at the pond edge, looking out for females approaching the water.

Common toad - Bufo bufo. Underwater.

Common toad - Bufo bufo. Basking.

Common toad - Bufo bufo. Swimming in the sunshine.

Common toad - Bufo bufo. Dusty, dry female nearing the end of her journey to the breeding pond.

Adder Courtship

The adder breeding season is one of my favourite fixtures in the nature-watching calendar. Just for a few days of fine weather in the late spring, the female adders go into heat very like a dog or cat, and all the male adders in the area are drawn in.

Adder - Vipera berus. Two males jostling for position by a female (the brown snake)

The males have a particlar wrestling 'dance' which they perform to determine which of them is the stronger. The winner chases off the loser and returns to guard the female from all comers.

I see adders throughout the warmer months of the year, but this is the only time when they are very active and not at all shy about human onlookers.