Grass Snakes

 On a hot and sunny 2nd May I heard a rustling in the grass and saw a boiling mass of snakes. On closer inspection it turned out to be three Grass Snakes. One was an obvious female (large), one an obvious male (small) but the third was an inbetweener although I assume must also be a (large) male.

At times they made was I thought were hissing noises (audible in the videos) but I have been told this sound comes from their scales rubbing rather than their mouths.

Here are far too many photos and a couple of videos.

three Grass Snakes (buorm). A large female closest, s small more brightly coloured male behind and a third one which I assume is also a male

getting all tied up

the female in focus

the males in focus. The one on the left being smaller and more brightly coloured

notice the tail sticking up with another animals tail wrapped around it

the female with the larger male

the smaller male left the melee and posed nicely for a photo before disappearing into a hole

Too sunny

Migration seems to have been put on pause again and with sun, blue skies and temperatures quickly reaching 20C it can feel quiet birdless at times which is strange for the first week of May. Butterflies like it though and I am now up to 7 species this year.

New species trickle in though. Yesterday Oslo #150 was added from my bed when a Lesser Whitethroat sang in the garden and then in Maridalen #151 was added with Wood Warbler. No new Oslo species today but a Red-backed Shrike at Nordre Øyeren was my earliest ever and a Thrush Nightingale was singing from leave less bushes and was unusually easy to see (hearing it is never a problem).

The male Three-toed Woodpecker was singing in the middle of the hot afternoon yesterday which is rather strange and I did not see the female. Today I saw neither bird and wonder whether something has gone wrong with (female predated?). The male and a male Great Spotted Woodpecker had a territorial fight though which was interesting to see. Previously these two species seem to, surprisingly, have coexisted in the same wood without any agro.

An update on the swan drama is that the Whoopers are still on the (Mute) nest and the new pair of Mute Swans were displaying today and chasing off Greylags so maybe they will make a nesting attempt.

Sunday’s weather forecast suggests southerly winds and rain in what is otherwise a period of dry sunny weather. If we are going to have a god day this May then I think it will be then.

Thrush Nightingale (nattergal). I don't think I've seen one this well before

my earliest ever Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)

territorial Great Spotted (flaggspett) and Three-toed Woodpeckers (tretåspett)

it was the Three-toed who went after the GS but the GS had the upper hand

Buzzard (musvåk) in Maridalen

a White Wagtail (linerle) was not happy with it flying so low over the fields

I checked Maridalen's Goshawk (hønsehauk) nests and both had sitting birds

the remains of a male Mallard (stokkand) were on a plucking post close to one of the nests

three male Whinchats (buskskvett) in a row

in Maridalen a pair of Wrynecks (vendehals) and a lone male are singing close to each other. This was the female from the pair

my first Peacock (dagpåfugløye)

and a Camberwell Beauty (sørgekåpe)

a toad (padde)

and Grass Snakes (buorm). I have loads of footage which will have to be shown in a separate post

Snakes making more snakes

At the end of April there was a lot of snake activity in Maridalen. Both Adders (hoggorm) and Grass Snakes (buorm) were gathered in the same area for mating. I witnessed Adders mating for the first time after previously having seen courtship but the Grass Snakes were still in the courtship stage which didn’t seem to be quite as exciting as with Adders.

Adders mating. The female is the browner snake

here we see in more detail the males penis entering (and expanding inside) the female

male Adder

female Adder

male Adder approaching a male and female Grass Snake

all three together. The larger body of the female Grass Snake is easy to see

male Grass Snake

male Grass Snake following female

Two male Grass Snakes following a female

male on top of female but this was still part of courtship stage

male Adder

female Adder