Communal Basking in Female Adders (Vipera berus)
in the best part of half a century of adder watching I have never seen females basking communally like this; all four are gravid and there were three others close to these four as well. Males are well known to bask together when fresh out of hibernation, but this was a really unexpected sight. I presume they are near the hibernaculum where they will give birth later in the summer, but why they should cluster together I don't know - far more likely to attract predators than any pay-off from more pairs of eyes to spot them, I think.
Communal Basking in Female Adders (Vipera berus)
in the best part of half a century of adder watching I have never seen females basking communally like this; all four are gravid and there were three others close to these four as well. Males are well known to bask together when fresh out of hibernation, but this was a really unexpected sight. I presume they are near the hibernaculum where they will give birth later in the summer, but why they should cluster together I don't know - far more likely to attract predators than any pay-off from more pairs of eyes to spot them, I think.