This morning we had the most exciting meeting in the world... ever.
It started as normal but descended into chaos when this five-inch long
Grass Snake (Natrix natrix) made its appearance under our meeting table. Lucinda said 'What's that?!'. I looked down to see a small, dark, elongated something
slithering its way under my chair.
My initial reaction was to go
'Gahhh!' but I think it's only human to do that - a meeting in the office is not where you expect to see a small snake. I recovered my normal composure and managed to ID it before it disappeared under the partition and out of sight.
After it was refound a couple of minutes later, the whole department went snake-crazy and gathered round to coo over the cute little fella.
We then released back where it had come from - the gardens outside.
A few weeks ago, the
Guardian Newsblog had a post about the wildlife seen from people's offices, but I don't think they extended that to wildlife that made its way
inside offices. Shame...
photos taken with
Nikon Coolpix 995
Here's one that fledged earlier: baby Blackbird
Another delivery of still-wriggling caterpillars on its way to a Robin nest near you
A tiny Grass Snake swimming in one of the ponds. Whether it was after insects or newts (both plentiful, I'm not sure)
Female (I think) Hairy Dragonfly
Zoomed-in, you can see the hairs
Large Red Damselflies: mating
and teneral (just-emerged)
Speckled Wood
Small Copper
Holly Blue (nectaring on holly, appropriately enough)
Green-veined White
Adela reamurella - weird, long-antennaed moths
Rowan (I think)
Oak
Maple
Lime
Horse-chestnut
Bracken
Beech
Bee-fly on bluebell
