wildlife

[ian mcdonald]

Matt. Going back to grass snakes I wonder if this local one is a hybrid? It shows a part barred skin?

[Matt T]

I believe the presence or absence of a yellow collar is diagnostic , Ian. I'm sure hybrids could be a possibility.

[ian mcdonald]

Matt, the one in the photo. had a toad in its mouth. The toad had inflated its-self to avoid being swallowed.  I have another couple of photos. and will see if there is a "collar." The trouble is I have that many photos. mostly on colour slides, that finding a particular one takes a long time. It is the same with photos on disc. I have not found an easy way to list what is on each disc, so I have to look at them all. Most of my wild flower photos are on colour slides and at the last count there are about 3,000 slides (not all flowers). It gives me something to do on cold days. The plant shown in post 1110 is Marsh arrow grass. There is a close relative, sea arrow grass which can be found along flushes at the coast.

[ian mcdonald]

Here are some more to be going on with. Apologies for the bird photo. I had not noticed my camera selector had turned to another setting.

[ian mcdonald]

I see that I had put another photo of the grass snake on the desktop, here it is, showing a yellow collar. I wonder what that makes it. Maybe a hybrid ?

[ian mcdonald]

Angie, if you look at the BASC deer culling site the Statutory culling seasons for deer are given for England, Scotland and Ireland. In short the Scottish culling season is as follows. Red deer stag July 1st-Oct 20th. Hind Oct 21st.-Feb 15th. Fallow buck Aug.1st.-April 30th. Doe Oct 21st.-Feb. 15th. Sika stag July 1st.-Oct 30th. Hind Oct 21st.-Feb 15th. Roe Stag April 1st.-Oct 20th. Doe Oct 21st.-March 31st. Other deer dates are given. Hope this helps, ian. In our area some red deer suffer from lack of eye retina. It is thought this is caused by in-breeding. As these deer are blind the policy is to "put them out of their misery."

[ian mcdonald]

Chris, grayling is right. I think the tern is arctic (no black tip to beak, although this is perhaps not clear in photo). Gordon, the newt seems to be common (two black lines down the back). Yvain 1 and 4 right.

[Chris Johnson]

Chris, grayling is right. I think the tern is arctic (no black tip to beak, although this is perhaps not clear in photo).

You are right. I noticed it was all red but got them mixed up in the aging brain.

[Chris Johnson]

1. Sea Eagle
2. Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor)
3. Scarlet Splash (Cytidia salicina)
4. Yellow Loosestrife (Lysimachia lysimachus)

[ian mcdonald]

Chris, 1, 3 and four correct. I,m sure you know more about fungi than I do and put the scarlet splash in for you to identify for me.

[Chris Johnson]

How about Yellow Bartsia (Parentucellia viscosa) for No. 2?

[angie]

Thank you Ian . I spoke to a friend of a friend that helps out on an estate and he gave me some advice. This is what I enjoy looking at in my field.
Today I bagged three deer heads which wasn't very pleasant. I moved them to a place that would maybe benefit other wildlife. It must have taken a lot of effort to drag three deer over a mile to their car. I maybe was silly approaching someone with a gun in the dark but honestly I am fed up of these folks that think they can do as they please. I told this one man to leave the deer not knowing that they had killed three. Nothing was left except the heads and off course the gutted them. Don't think they had been shot in the same day.
Hopefully it wont be long before the others appear again.I know these animals need culled but would prefer to have someone to do the job in a better way.

Ian never seen a grass snake but since worms terrify me maybe its better I don't see a snake n the flesh as they say.

Angie 

[Karaba]

About Grass snake, from https://www.arguk.org/get-involved/news/what-does-the-re-classification-of-european-grass-snakes-mean-for-our-native-grass-snakes and the original paper, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-07847-9 there is only one species of grass snake in Great Britain : the new Natrix helvetica. So hybrid are not possible. Very few individuals from Britain and Germany were found to be allochthonous but they represent only escaped indivdual in Britain and a very localized population in Germany.
If you read the paper in Scientific Reports, you will see that morphometry and genetics are not congruent in the eastern species and potentially in the western too. There was the same problem with common toad (and spiny toad).

[ian mcdonald]

Chris, yellow bartsia is right. How about the last one? Angie, my sister is also scared of worms. She won,t even mention them. Do the shooters have permission to shoot on the land? If not their licences (if they have one) would probably be revoked and their guns seized. Perhaps a word with the landowner would be the first port of call.

[ian mcdonald]

Yvain, I have read the papers on recent grass snake studies but it meant nothing to me. I think Degrees from the big schools are given subject to how confusing a report is to the ordinary person. I was once given a geology students report to read and ended up giving up after the first few lines. The ability to put a report together that makes sense of the subject seems to have been lost. I think this is why the academic world and the laymans world never meet. A pity that so much information gathered by "amateurs" is not passed on.