An afternoon phone call had me heading towards Hadham Park today. Steve Mardell rang me with news of grass snakes in a local pond that has been observed feeding on young moorhens. Although too late to catch sight of the devouring, I did manage to get a few photos of the snakes. Two were seen, with reports of several smaller specimens seen earlier. Whilst there I also recorded common darter, ruddy darter, (shown here) blue tailed damselfly and breeding common blue damselflies, shown here in the "wheel position". The blue being the male and the browner creature being the female held by the head. As we discussed the amount of buzzards present within the parish, a solitary adult appeared on cue. Many thanks to Steve for taking the time to call me. As recently reported in the parish news, I had, until today, not witnessed grass snakes in the parish although had received several reports from Church End area.
The photos shown here depict the larger female, still bulging having eaten the moorhen whole! (Click on photos to enlarge.) The green neckband being diagnostic for this species. I suspect the moorhen to be no more than 3 day old, judging by photos taken on Steve's mobile phone. Also today, I received reports of a southern hawker dragonfly laying eggs in a garden pond and signs of nocturnal activity in a garden that is suspected to be the work of badgers.
The photos shown here depict the larger female, still bulging having eaten the moorhen whole! (Click on photos to enlarge.) The green neckband being diagnostic for this species. I suspect the moorhen to be no more than 3 day old, judging by photos taken on Steve's mobile phone. Also today, I received reports of a southern hawker dragonfly laying eggs in a garden pond and signs of nocturnal activity in a garden that is suspected to be the work of badgers.
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