Saturday 9 July 2011

Adder Near-Miss

We walked yesterday along the banks of the burn which runs through a beautiful valley on the north side of Glas Bheinn, often cutting deep gorges along its course. The stream, Abhainn Chro Bheinn, pictured above with Beinn na Seilg in the distance, supplies water to the village.

The indistinct sheep track we were following cuts through dense areas of bracken and heather. The Diary was striding out in front, concentrating on searching for the path ahead, but was stopped by a shout from behind.

An eighteen-inch adder lay in the track. Somehow, amazingly, The Diary had walked right over it without treading on it. For a moment it lay, as if disgusted with the way it had been disturbed, then slithered off into the grass.

This is the first live adder we've seen here, and comes after this recent post. We now wonder how many other adders we've failed to spot in all our walks across the peninsula.

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