On my way to work, on one of the old stairways going down to the Loire (the one nearer the St Symphorien bridge), I came across this baby viper (about 20cm long) nestled in the corner of the tread and the riser. It's a common viper (vipera aspis aspis), but it really does look like a zinnikeri (vipera aspis zinnikeri), even though those can't be found under my latitude. It must have been basking all afternoon long in the sun, as the steps were still tepid.
On my way back from work. On the handrails, left and right, of the St Symphorien Bridge (a.k.a Pont de fil "Rope Bridge") are dozens of spiderwebs. These spiders only come out at night. The picture above is a rookie blunder made possible because of the blue lighting peculiar to this bridge, the flash and the long exposure (which I had left on...). Below is a clearer version.
My guess is that it is the walnut orb-weaver spider (Nuctenea umbratica - 'umbratica' means 'living in the shadow' in Latin), a female judging by the size (approximately 1.5 cm). It can flatten its belly and crawl in very narrow crevices, leaving only one leg out, to which is hooked a signal thread in case a moth, a sandfly or a midge gets stuck in the web.
Quite a lively area, the bridge is at night.
HOLY COW that thing is huge! Beautiful, but HUGE.
ReplyDelete... are vipers poisonous? Made me think of le petite prince again.
Vipers are poisonous indeed. But this one is too small to really harm you. Could kill a mouse easy though, just with its venom.
ReplyDeleteLe petit Prince...yep. I'm sure he'd have loved talking to this one like I did.
:) Agh, snakes. I've had too many interesting encounters with snakes to talk to them much anymore. We mostly just agree to disagree and leave each other to our own devices.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that in my case they're better conversationalists than appetizers. Too chewy, and sometimes quite a mouthful.
ReplyDeleteSICK, Roddy! WHat??
ReplyDeleteNever eaten snake? I tried and it's like I said: chewy.
ReplyDeleteyeah, no... blah :P
ReplyDelete