I arrived quite early in the morning and before i went adderwatching decided to let the day warm up abit and take some landscapes. Granted i ended up deleting most of them as i wasn't using a tripod or any filters but a few came out OK and at least i wouldn't go home completely empty handed (with how my luck has been so far this year i didn't have high hopes of the adders being about).
And so off i went on the hunt! I was about halfway down the first "wall" when i heard a distinctive Hiss, not good i thought must have missed an adder coming down, so i looked around and saw nothing. I was frozen and unmoving bar my head as i scanned the area as the only time i've known Adders to hiss is when your right on top of them, but nothing, am i going mad? The hiss was getting louder turning into aggression and finally i spotted the snake. About 10 foot away!! Honestly i wasn't anywhere near the damn thing, she was worked up though in full defense mode. When a snake is like that i always leave them be but i couldn't work out why so worked up as i wasn't near her, perhaps a dog disturbed her earlier or something.
Anyway i carried on walking and left her hissing in peace. I found nothing else on the way down the wall so decided to see if Ms hissy was still about as i came back up. She was and this though still on edge was calmer and no longer hissing or flattening out her body so i was able to take some shots.
I continued my search but wasn't having much luck (annoying as weather was perfect being slightly overcast) but noticed another watcher in a different area. Normally i don't take notice of other people but decided it could be a snake so wandered in that direction. It was in fact three snakes and they were being photographed by a Francis Taylor (check out www.francisjtaylor.co.uk to see this guys amazing images!) who turned out to be a really nice guy and allowed my company. He was using some impressive kit and his approach has given me a few ideas. We talked for abit as we both took images of the rather uncooperative vipers and in the end i think i took about hundred shots, some were even decent!
I was using a zoom lens taking these and was struggling with focus, i think the distance between me and the snake combined with there small size made it tricky. Still i haven't done much photography of late so wasn't really on top form. No matter though i'm just happy to watch Adders and can easily spend a few hours doing so. Eventually the weather turned very overcast and Francis left, it was nice meeting him though. I stayed for about forty minutes after watching the snakes until they eventually disappeared. On the way back though i couldn't resist seeing if my Ms Hissy was still out, turned out she was and perhaps unsurprisingly was in full defense mode again! No hissing or aggression but after a couple of captures i left her be. If you ever come across a snake like this it is best to avoid it as they can strike without much provocation.
All in all it was quite a good day today, though i have decided that my macro will be the next lens i upgrade! Hopefully i will be back for more Adders as the days go by.
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