Photos

Hello folks.
Spring is here and particullary this weekend has been warm as a summers day. Here is in the south east coast of Sweden, in the countryside some 15 km outside the city of Västervik.
Yesterday when I was picking up some small branches from our lawn and put it in our compost I saw a totally black viper. It obviosly saw, or shall I say heard me, too. No I didn't scream, I threw the branches near him/her (but not by meaning) so he/she got scared and wriggled away under some stones. I went inside to get my camera but he/she didn't show up again. I looked for him/her today too, but no luck. Instead I walked across our small country road to the stonewall (the stones are not fitted together, they are just put there). Last year I saw a black viper there but now something moved and it was this one on the photo. It's a male Vipera Berus. They are white or grey while the female are brown with the caracteristic black zig-zag pattern on their back. The black ones are also rather common but they don't have the pattern, or at least you can't see it! They are mostly around 65 cm long but can be up to 100 cm. Here in Sweden the Viper is the most dangerous reptile there is, so you don't have to worry too much. The snakes are probably more afraid of you than you have to be of them.
Some of the facts are from the Swedish dictionary 'Nationalencyklopedin'.
I hope to see the black viper tomorrow (when I come home after work). And if I do, I hopefully can get a photo to upload.

PP-work done:
Increased contrast +8
Decreased intensity -5
Cropped
Resized
Unsharp mask, ammount 300, radius 0.3.

Regards
Per