The European Adder (Vipera berus) is a widespread reptile, ranging from the UK in the west throughout Northern Europe, Central Asia and Russia. Historically widespread in England, adders have declined across much of their former range and have already been lost from a number of counties in middle England. Norfolk and Suffolk are known to have important adder populations, but there is a lack of recent records and a number of apparently good patches of habitat have no records.
This project draws on the 'adder4pop' model developed at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH) to identify the most suitable habitats for adders in Norfolk and Suffolk based on foraging, and hibernacula resources for both juvenile and adult life stages. The model uses these maps to predict likely adder activity across Norfolk and Suffolk. In tandem with the modelling, ARG UK supported by Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service and Suffolk Biodiversity Information Service have compiled available historic records from across the area, set up new volunteer surveys to map adder population hotspots, and hopefully find additional populations which have not been formally recorded.
The results of the modelling and surveys were disseminated at two local land managers' adder forums, where local partners were able to explore the maps and determine how their sites fitted into the bigger landscape picture. The findings from this study will be used to help update our understanding of adder populations in Norfolk and Suffolk, and to work with landowners and local stakeholders to create better quality, more joined up habitat, for this iconic but highly vulnerable native species.
If you would like to support the Secretive Serpents project please contact us on: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Or you can upload your records directly to our new portal on Record Pool: https://www.recordpool.org.uk/secretiveserpents
We would like to thank all of our project partners for their generous support of this project:
