This exciting new project, led by our Pembrokeshire Adder Coordinator, Sam Langdon, is delivering the ‘community engagement’ aspect of a wider programme to prevent this iconic, but vulnerable native snake from slipping into extinction in large parts of England and Wales. The project has taken a holistic approach, looking at all aspects of conservation, including: survey and monitoring, which will feed into landowner engagement and practical conservation. However, a key part of this was also public perception; adders have been persecuted over many centuries, and without a significant change in the way in which communities and the wider public view the adder, there is no desire or impetus to conserve it. The project developed an inspirational programme to engage the wider community and general public and reverse the effects of the negative publicity that adders have received over so many generations. 

Adders are Amazing! has worked with communities on the St David’s Peninsula, one of Wales’ key strongholds for the adder. Alongside partners from: SWWARG, Pembrokeshire County Council, the National Trust, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, Keep Britain Tidy and Dr Beynon's Bug Farm; we have worked with the community and local schools around the St Davids peninsula, to create a positive focus on the natural environment, with the adder as its flagship. This will help ensure a resilient future for adders in this area and help develop a sense of community pride in this beautiful, sensitive species. The findings and outcomes from the programme will then be used to inform further projects across Wales, UK and Europe to help reverse the pervasive negativity associated with adders and other native snakes.

In the first year of the project Sam Langdon, our Pembrokeshire Adder Coordinator has worked with nearly 2,000 people, from all sectors of society, in a range of innovative and creative ways, to spread positive messages about our native adders, and ensure that the community will continue to cherish them for future generations to enjoy. 

 We would like to thank:

Adder are Amazing! received funding through a partnership including the Welsh Government Rural Communities - Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government, Biodiversity Solutions, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, and Langdon Ecology.

We would also like to thank the Pembrokeshire communities, schools and businesses who participated in the project, and especially the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, for their support and enthusiasm. Without them Adders are Amazing! would not have been possible