Before showing you Skagen, I wanted to take you to Grønjordssøen. What hides behind this barbaric name is a small lake notorious for its Black-necked grebes (Podiceps nigricollis). I went there in quest for pictures of this beautiful animal, but the pair I spotted stayed way too far. I still saw some interesting birds.
I even saw a snake! I was sitting on the shore, the wind was blowing in the reeds so I didn’t pay attention to the noise. At some point, I guess some movement on my right caught my eye. It happened in the blink of an eye, but when I saw that there was snake 20 cm from me, I jumped! Immediately, I realized it was a Grass snake (Natrix natrix), not a bad guy at all, a green snake with a yellow ring around the neck (if we can really speak of a neck for a snake) that likes to swim but isn’t venomous. As startled as I was, it angled its course to the reeds, and I saw it in the lake a couple of times after that. A fantastic observation!
Bird inventory
eiwawar.wordpress.com 
Beautiful species! I only know the Mallard, here in Quebec. Beautiful pictures.
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Merci beaucoup Aline 🙂
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It is remarkable how we instinctively react to the snakes. The longest grass snake I saw was in Lyngby Åmose. It lay across a small path and enjoyed the sun.
Lovely picture of rørhønen, it is generally shy 🙂
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Yes you’re right!
And thanks 🙂 It’s true that they are shy, but when you take the time to wait on the shore like I did, you realize that they actually venture into the open quite often. On the other hand, if you surprise one like that and try to get closer, it will swiftly retreat to the reeds… the virtues of patience, I guess :p
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C’est vrai que ça doit surprendre, c’est pas vraiment le genre d’animal qu’on s’attend à voir près d’un lac au Danemark ! C’est commun ? Tu as des Grèbes jougris ?
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Tu parles de quoi, du serpent ? J’en sais rien si c’est commun ou pas, en tout cas c’est la première fois que j’en vois 🙂
La question sur les grèbes, c’est un blague, on est bien d’accord hein ? :p
https://eiwawar.wordpress.com/2016/03/27/focus-red-necked-grebe/
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ah mais oui, j’avais oublié… honte à moi… en + tes photos sont super ! 🙂
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Bon ça va, je te pardonne 😉
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C’était il y a un mois et demi, ça fait loin pour moi ! 🙂
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great!! I didn’t know about duck species …. I watched documentaries about snakes 😀
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Thanks for your kind comment! I’m glad you discovered new things here, that’s the point of it all 🙂
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What lovely photos these are. We have Mallards in Canada too! What a fright about the snake. Harmless or not a big surprise I’m sure!
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Thank you very much Sue. Yes, Mallard are quite widespread around the world (not to mention that they have been introduced to lots of new places as well), it’s certainly the most common duck in Europe.
And yes, definitely a big surprise (for me and for the snake!) 🙂
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Bien que ça soit rarement la bonne option, notre instinct nous pousse souvent à réagir de la sorte lorsqu’on est surpris, moi le premier … Merci en tout cas, je bien d’apprendre qu’il y avait des couleuvres à collier au Danemark !
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Ben écoute y’a pas de quoi, tout le plaisir est pour moi ^^ Je l’ai appris par la même occasion, je n’en avais pas vu avant ça.
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