Adder Dispersal Distances

I know of a very small heath which was isolated from the main heathland area (large) during WW2 in the push to get more land under cultivation when fields were created between this heathland area and the now main block . These newly created fields have been kept thus and the once small lane between this small heath and the fields is now a busyish road. There is an adder population (slow worms and lizards also seen). There are likely grass snake as there is a good proportion of damp bottom land that has long heathy type grass. With the road (sunken down from the heath) and very large fields needing crossing before the main heath is reached there is little chance of reptile movement to and fro. This small heath is totally unmanaged and interesting for that. Lots of heather, small copses, some gorse and grassy areas. It also seems there are more heathland birds and butterflies than on the managed areas but that is hard to prove.

Hi Lee

Good to see you around here.

Good question regarding the adders and thank you for posting this thread on here.

I would go with the advice of using data from early in the year to determine hibernation sites and then look at potential habitat where they could disperse. To be honest,I don't think you are really going to know unless you do very intensive survey work (ie photographing each one seen in the early part of the year, compared to those seen in the summer.

Good luck and let me know how you get on. I'll be doing some adder surveys this year and will forward you any data that is collected, particularly on hibernation sites and animals found in the summer. It is an interesting topic and one that I have always been fascinated by- but these adders don't always read the books!!