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Evil Nettles And Snakes.


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It seems that this year the Stinging nettles are going to be vicious. Already I have had some nasty rashes from these beasties.

I also had a close encounter with my first snake of this year. It was in my eyes beautiful. There was I hunting for a cache on the Hackney Marshes. As I forced my way though the undergrowth, sunning itself on some logs, was this great big, and I mean big, brown snake. I stopped dead in my tracks and slowly reached for my camera. As I switched the camera on, the start-up noise frightened the creature and it shot off. I have seen quite a few snakes in my time. So I am not frightened of them.

But others could well be. I believe that this one was a very adult grass snake. (I hope)

Some years ago I saw this also very large brown snake in a London park. I thought it was a grass snake. Being in the area that it was I had my suspicions. I was right, as it had escaped from London zoo. I went and reported it to a guy on the zoo gate. Another guy came with a grabber thing and a dustbin. When he had recovered it he said that it was one of theirs and it was venomous. OUCH!

 

So a warning. Get yourself a stout stick for probing the vegetation, and heavy-duty gloves for this year’s geocaching.

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I also had a close encounter with my first snake of this year.

First snake of the year!

I've lived near Cannock Chase for 25 years and despite walking over there regularly, have never seen a snake. (Just as well I suppose, there are Adders up there!).

Closest thing I've seen to a snake is a dead Sloworm in Wales.

 

Thanks for the tip about the stick though..... :ph34r:

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I saw my first ever wild snake in the UK while I was setting GCJPB6 it was definitely a grass snake (all about grass snakes). It was around 3 to 4 feet long, brownish and about as thick as a child's wrist. Quite magnificent. It was sunning itself in the grass and I surprised it when I looked over the bridge. It looked at me and quite calmly slithered away into some undergrowth.

Edited by jochta
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you are certainly right about the nettles..i had a fair dose of nettle rash whilst out caching with alibags on sunday,vicious little bas*ards to.unluckily we didnt see any snakes,plenty of waterfowl though.the only snake we have to worry about in this country is the adder,this has a black 'V' on its head,ive only seen one in my lifetime and that was in the brecon beacons.grass snakes are harmless and are very timid creatures,have to say though,not seen one for over 15 years eithier.

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I see plenty of slow worms and lizards round near me, but have only seen a snake once in the UK. It was an adder. I saw it at Foxton Locks on the Grand Union canal in Leicestershire. It was sunning itself on the inclined plane, and as I clumped up to it, it slithered off down a hole. It was definately an adder as it had a white zig zag down it's back! Cool! :ph34r:

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I see plenty of slow worms and lizards round near me, but have only seen a snake once in the UK. It was an adder. I saw it at Foxton Locks on the Grand Union canal in Leicestershire. It was sunning itself on the inclined plane, and as I clumped up to it, it slithered off down a hole. It was definately an adder as it had a white zig zag down it's back! Cool! :ph34r:

<pedant>

 

I think you'll find that your signature has a spelling error in it.

 

infinite not infinate

 

I don't normally point out spelling/grammar as anyone can make mistakes in fora (forums, whatever) such as these, but your signature is on every post.

 

</pedant>

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I saw a slow worm when I was 12 and I saw another 2 weeks ago, about 25 years later and that's about as exciting as it gets. Oh, I saw some rats the other day as well.

 

Buzzards are common this year (now I know what they look like)

 

Never seen a snake in the wild in this country, but like to play with them at petting zoo's. Beth won't let me have a pet one.

 

Nettles though have been getting me for a few weeks now. It started with the baby ones but now they are maturing. I don't know if it's just caching, but are there more of them this year? My son says "Dad - Why did God invent Nettles?"

 

Adrian

Edited by Kitty Hawk
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Adder bites are rare and the snakes normally slither away quietly. Unless of course you stand on it or stick your hand at it when reaching for a hidden box. The stick is a good idea to use to have a poke around with first. If a snake is hiding somewhere it wil probally disapear after getting a poke from a leki pole. I have seen them on my travels in hilly areas but not that often and as has been mention by the time the camera is out they have usually gone. I believe dogs get bitten more often than human though.

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I deliberately (SWMBO would argue differently) allow nettles to grow at the bottom of my garden, they're great for attracting butterflies in the summer.

 

Here's a great website!

 

be nice to nettles week

I too have nettles in my garden not because I like them or want them more because I cant be @£$Ed digging them out, Gardening to me involves attacking the grass every now and then when the bairn cant find her climbing frame. Not every 3 year old has her own jungle you know! :D:lol::ph34r:

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When I go to my 'villa on the coast' (A holiday chalet near Clacton) There are Adders in the area I have seen 4 in the last couple of years. I even rescued one that an old dear had found in her garden and wes trying to beat it up with a plastic kiddys spade. I stopped her and told her to get a bucket. She did it was full of water. "What that for?" I asked. " To drown the bugger" she replied. I tipped out the water and managed to get the Adder into the bucket. (It was only a young one) I took it in the bucket to show a few people on our site then I took it and released it up along the sea wall where I have seen others.

There are loads of lizards, grass snakes and Slow worms in the area.

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We saw a young Adder sunning itself in the middle of the path whilst walking to the Inside Out cache last summer, by the time I had the camera out it had slithered through the fence and disappeared. We have slow worms in our garden, but I haven't yet seen a grass snake, though I seem to remember seeing wild scorpions when I was younger, can't remember where though.

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Ongar tube station has a well known colony of scorpions living amidst the concrete cracks.    They glow in UV light, so that's handy if you want to hunt them after dark.

But that would mean going to Ongar!

 

Mind you, a colony of scorpions would be worth seeing if I'm in the area. :ph34r:

Edited by NickPick
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Interesting fact regarding snakes and lizards:

 

"It is illegal to kill or injure any of them, with fines of up to £5,000 and six months' imprisonment for offenders. "

 

http://newswww.bbc.net.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3144451.stm

All wildlife is protected apart from the select few that are classed as game or vermin, Even some that are vermin require special licences for permission to cull. A sparrow or robin is just as protected as an eagle or osprey, Just you are more liable to get prosecuted for killing higher profile or endangered animals.

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I thought that vermin was covered by the so called 'general licence', which is not a bit of paper that you must apply for, but just means that you are given general permission to kill them (excluding using cruel means).

 

Which species do you need specific permission for? Just out of interest.

 

BTW, in defence of nettles : Cornish Yarg!!!

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I thought that vermin was covered by the so called 'general licence', which is not a bit of paper that you must apply for, but just means that you are given general permission to kill them (excluding using cruel means).

 

Which species do you need specific permission for? Just out of interest.

 

BTW, in defence of nettles : Cornish Yarg!!!

Things like cormorants, Ask any fishery owner they are definatley vermin, The fishery has to prove that the birds are deystroying tonnes of fish before a licence to cull is issued.

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War Story Mode On - Just drag up a sand bag and a brew

 

Some years ago I was "working" in the jungles of Belize. I saw some interesting stuff there! A collapsed observation post made from crinkly tin had been taken over by a "herd" (OK what is the collective then!) of scorpions. I have never seen people move so quickly when they moved the tin, 8 grown men running like a bunch of girls!

 

The thing that always made me smile though was following a track early in the morning. A spider may have weaved one strand across the path and as your leg brushed against it, it snapped sounding and having the strength of cotton.

 

War Story mode Off - stack the sand bags nicely where you found them

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:ph34r: They have a nettle eating competition every year at a local pub down here in the south west,quite interesting to watch them all stuffing their faces with the horrible weeds!!!

As for the snakes you would be surprised how common they are if you know where to look,eg Woodbury common in east devon you can find adders and their favorite places are cut down plantations basking on top of the old stumps!!

They are not at all aggressive and you can get quite close to them if you are quiet.

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i thought it was illegal to shoot cormorants ?????i thought they were protected these days,like starlings are now

A bit off topic but here goes.

 

Thats what I mean you have to prove that the cormorant population has grown so big that they are deystroying your trout population and you then have to get someone to agree to let you cull a certain number of them and get a licence to do it. If you just got your gun and started shooting them you would be in serious trouble with the powers that be. Aparently it is really difficult to get such a licence and when the select few do there is an uproar amongst the local bird watchers.

 

Back on topic I dont hide caches in nettles I choose whin bushes (gorse) very spikey :anibad:

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Replies -

 

1) I saw a lizard sunning itself on a tree in Blackdown Surrey c1972 - not seen a native reptile since.

 

2) Nettles always sting more before they flower. Once they are producing pollen and seeds there is an advantage in being disturbed.

 

3) Cornish Yarg - like all pseudo Kernow Kash Kows a Konplete Kon - read Yarg backwards - just like Trebor.

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never having met your friend i shy away from declaring them too dim to live!

 

plenty of adders, lizards and so on in the newforest. worst time is early in the morning when they're too sluggish to get out of your way. othrwise you'll prob only see them disapearing quickly. they are very sensitive to vibrations, that's why they've gone by the time you get to them but dogs often get bitten. they move fast and dn't weight much.

be carefull picking up ammo boxes though as they are lovely and warm places to hide under. just a matter of being aware and letting them slither off. they only bite when no other option available.

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I find Adders to be slow and calculating! They need the solar rays to get started all right, then multiply when allowed to. After being created, they devide apart, leaving a perchentage behind. Subtract the ones that get deleted, this then leaves a modern animal for our technical age!

 

Am I a smart Asre or What!

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Come caching in the Isle of Man. No snakes here! neither do we have Foxes, Badgers, or Squirrels. We do have loads of nettles though, good for eating and free, they make a really good nourishing substitue for spinach! When caching I now take a swiss style extendable walking stick, ideal for assisting my elderly legs up hills and for poking amongst the undergrowth looking for caches.

I have only seen two adders in my life, one on the Pennine way and the other in the New Forest. They slithered away ASAP. A good reason to not go caching in open summer sandels. Nibbo and I are going caching in Northern Ireland in July, supposedly no snakes there either.

Happy caching.

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Manx cat is still guarding the castle in Castletown. Saw the pest yesterday! It was eyeing up the latest influx of tourists off the Shearings Coaches. I wonder if it keeps count of the number of successful strikes it makes like we count geocaches.

Hope you enjoyed the Isle of Man.

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I remember a particularly vicious Manx cat!

I have put a warning about Gorram on the cache page for

 

Island at War now, which I hope will keep any summer visitors from harm. :ph34r:

You might want to put that warning in the text of the cache page. A note will get demoted as people log finds, and I pity the 6th person to find it, as the note will have slipped off the page by then.

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It was eyeing up the latest influx of tourists off the Shearings Coaches.

 

Fair game in my book. When we lived in Abergeldie on the South Deeside Road those blighters insisted on driving up a road clearly posted as unsuitable for large vehicles. Many of the passing places were totally inadequate for anything other than a bicylcle to pass a bus on.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong Forrester, but I seem to remember Maddie was bitten by a Adder in 'them thar hills'

 

Martin, Lynn and wee Maddie

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I seem to remember Maddie was bitten by a Adder in 'them thar hills'

No, but it was close.

 

Fortunately the adder scuttled away under a heather clump when sensing Maddie's footfall. If she'd been bitten in the face, she would have been in big trouble because it was right up at the top of Glen Girnock and a long way from veterinary help.

 

The face is the worst place for a dog to be bitten and is the most common in an inexperienced dog because of the tendency to investigate new things with the nose.

 

On another, much later, occasion I saw her spot an adder and freeze in response. She looked to me as if to ask what she should do. I gave her the STOP command and I stamped my feet to chase the snake away.

 

Some animals have some kind of atavistic or instinctive fear of snakes, even if they've never encountered one before. I remember that my grandmother managed to keep cats out of the front garden by simply leaving old inner tubes from bicycle tyre coiled around the base of some of the plants. The cats weren't sure what to make of these snake-like things so they went elsewhere to relieve themselves.

 

Slightly different topic: we are now coming into the season when the knotweed is beginning to burgeon. You do *NOT* want to get the sap from broken stalks of that stuff on your skin. It is quite painful! During the CITO-type cleanup last Sunday we found some new shoots of knot weed and the Trust people said that they'd have the Council come and treat them with Glyphosate next week. Within a couple of weeks that stuff will be growing at a rate of at least an inch a day if it is not dealt with.

 

Cheers, The Forester

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No, but it was close.

 

Yep, now I do remember.

 

Slightly off topic for this country but when Lynn and I first got together in Louisiana, I lived on the side of a lake. It was HOT in the summer and we would frequently take a dip to cool off. I remember one evening when Lynn's daughter was visiting from Canada and we had been swimming off the pier all afternoon. We sat on the pier in the evening sipping a beer (not real beer, the trans-atlantic stuff) or two and Andrea watched in morbid facination as a whole family of water mocassins swum out from under our feet and proceeded to patrol the very area where we had been swimming. Deadly poisnous those guys but, like most snakes, they only attack if you catch them by surprise. We are fairly lucky in this country!

 

Martin & Lynn

 

PS: I did know about the moccasins but didn't let on :rolleyes:

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Knot weed :rolleyes::D:D

 

The house next to ours has been unoccupied for a few years and the garden is covered in the stuff. It's found its way under the fence. So no matter what we do a new batch is on the way every time.

 

On the subject of bites. Here's one today from the BBC. Perhaps I should get a camera phone?

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havnt seen any snakes yet but me and the misses have been stung quite a lot on various caches and suffered for quite a few days later will certainly be more careful

thanks for the warning and i will take up the tip about using a stick

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Knot Weed? Is that the same as 'Giant Hog Weed? The sap from this also gives acid like burns if it gets onto skin.

When I was younger, I had a job after school doing green grocer delveries. From box of bananas crawled this big spider. I dropped a melon on it. Exit one spider. Did not do much for the melon either.

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They need the solar rays to get started all right, then multiply when allowed to.

 

The reason Adders are often seen amongst logs is just that. They are only adders and require logs to multiply.

 

Martin

LMAO..... :lol::D:D

 

Some of our 'younger' cachers probably won't get that.

 

I mean.... when was the last time you used logs to multiply ??? For me, it was at least 40 years ago, probably longer.

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