Close Focus Adder Portraits

I returned to the Adder sighting location of a few days ago and this time I had plenty of time on my hands to wait for the right moments to take a few portraits.

The weather was cold and very windy with occasional showers and the adder was not showing when I arrived just after Nine AM. I walked the cliffs for a while and on my return an hour or so later this fine Adder was just settling into a small basking point clearing,

I worked with My 500mm f4 lens with a 1.7 tele-converter on a Nikon D500 DX body to achieve full frame images at a four to five metre distance from the adder to avoid disturbance and when I finally left a couple of hours later the Adder was still out basking in its low level sun trap.

Todays bird Portraits

My day started with me heading for the south coast without a camera over my shoulder which feels really weird !!  I was off to Trewavas head to check out one of my Adder hot spots and to make a couple of clearings in brambles and hedgerows to attract any early risers into a safe basking area without to much old bramble and vegetation to foil good photos when they show,  It might seem early for Adders to come out of hibernation but last year I had my first show on the 15th February  [ Posted below ] and the year before was even earlier on the 23rd of January so I have high hopes of a positive sighting before to long,  We just need a couple of frosty nights to chill them down a little followed by warm early morning sunshine to tempt them out,  So watch this space for early Adders !!

I spent the afternoon in the hide at Stithians southern cut-off and came away with a few more portraits of some of the resident birds as posted below,  First up was the resident Male Great Spotted Woodpecker which looked very striking in the dappled sunlight in the woods behind the feeders,

My second show was from an immaculate looking Wood Pigeon in the same location,

A  family of four Moorhen came in from the Cut-off waters to forage under the feeders

And a busy little Wren went out on to the water hunting for fresh water shrimps and insects among semi submerged patches of vegetation

Longrock Buck Roe Deer

It was good to start the day with a sighting of a Buck Roe deer at Longrock, It has been many months since I last saw one there,  It was feeding on the lush grass at the far side of the field which is a bit of a challenge for my 500mm lens and cloud cover didn't help with poor light levels,  I snapped away using single shots as the deer's movement created interest while waiting for blue sky coming from the west behind the clouds to clear the sun for better lighting,  It seemed a bit like watching paint dry but it did eventually clear the sky just about the same time as the buck cleared the hedge row to disappear behind the tree line,   Charming !  but I have posted a couple of high ISO images below anyway.

With my subject gone I was left with a lovely blue sky and conditions were improving all the while so off I went to Trewavas Head with thoughts of warn sunshine and possibly mating adders on my mind.  Well I didn't get any mating adders this time but the same two that I saw yesterday put in an appearance in fairly open basking points to provide a few more images posted below until a coach load of guided students walking the coast path arrived on mass,  Hi students  Bye adders!

I had first heard and then sighted a pair of Chough while working with the adders So I wandered off in the direction that I had last seem them fly,  I found them both feeding among Thrift vegetation on cliff ledges below and they keep me busy for the next hour trying to achieve images that didn't just look like silhouettes but its not easy with the sun against you.

I spent the last hour of my day back down at Marazion marsh where I was sure to have the sun on my back and the marsh is always so photogenic when lit by the late afternoon sun,  Nothing outstanding or rare today but the locals managed to put on a bit of a show,

The weather forecast and wind direction are looking good for the south coast tomorrow so it looks like I will just have to do it all again,  It a tough life !

Winter storms and Spring Adders

      The weather on the south coast was decidedly chilly today with intermitant wintery Hail storms driving in on brisk south westerly winds,  During one such storm the hail was the size of marbles and settling an inch or so on the ground as can be seen in the image below which was taken between Trewavas Head and Porthleven, 

So this is hardly the time you would expect to see adders out to bask in the sun to warm their blood, But the fact is that between the storms the sun did come out for quite long periods and the adders being past masters at selecting south facing slopes that are protected from onshore winds came out along with it,

The first adder I found was curled in a classic spiral to retain its existing body heat while seeking the suns rays to increase it,

The second was about a meter away from the first and curled up tightly to the side of granite for warmth and wind protection,  I worked on these two adders for around twenty minutes using a 500mm prime lens at a working distance of 3.5m so as not to disturb them and I was a little surprised then the first one sighted started to move in the direction of the second,  The two appeared to be old friends and quite prepared to coil up together as another means of retaining their existing body temperature while presenting me with an excellent dual adder opportunity as in the images below.

I believe these two adder to be male but it is now about the right time for female adder to be emerging from hibernation with a view to mating to produce this years young so I intend to keep my eye on this area hoping to record the event again this year,  A cold sometimes wet but interesting day!