Urgent advice - threatened Grass Snake ar

Can somebody please tell me how long it takes before English nature usually reply to an email or correspondence sent to them or copied?

Am I right in thinking that Greg Smith is still the co ordinator for the Essex and Herts region.

Thanks

Robert

Keith, Hi,

yes it is of some cheer, but, like you say, its the "odd grass snake" now!

I can imagine that when George Malenoir took you over EF in the fifties, there were considerably more Nn and Vb? Am I right or wrong?

The conservators would have you believe that the decline is due to 'invasive species' of plants. This is just not true. In 1994, just before the long horn fencing went up at the Long Running and purple moor grass was up to your knees in most of the plains, I spotted 38 Adders and 18 Grass Snakes in a single day in April (Roy Gordon used to spot a lot more than that!). Keith, if you walk the same areas now, just thirteen years later you'll be very lucky to see half a dozen.

You must know of a certain Adder hibernation site near a certain car park in the forest? The conservators opened up that area with the wholesale clearance of all scrub..... did they ask you, George, Roy, me, RAUK, or anyone else for guidance?

But, I suppose we have to be thankful that EF survives and is generally cared for (I mean rubbish is cleared diligently by guys that walk in the rain for hours along the roadside banks and remove heavy settees etc after being dumped, so thanks for that lads if you're reading this) and with that I've decided not to go to press, after all the forest was supposed to be for the 'general' public, not just herp enthusiasts Lol!!!  

Well Fred Speakman is a character I would like to learn more about as he is a big part of the History of Herpetology in Essex. We had the snake catcher in the New Forest while we had people who were snake catchers for a different reason - rescuing snakes which were going to be killed - Roy Gordon and others used to collect adders from other parts of the country (mostly local areas) and bring them to Epping Forest.

Fred Speakman used to get the same people to collect snakes for his exhibitions I believe - I would like to record experiences of this for a new book on Herpetofauna in Essex 

Please do get in touch

Robert regarding contacting English Nature or now Natural England I would expect that their reply would be a long time coming (as they are very busy) and I suspect that you will not get the answers that you want.

I would suggest copying in Jim Foster in your discussions - the EARG has had many run ins with EN/NE over their 'activities' relating to SSSI restoration work in other parts of Essex. The effects this work has on great crested newts can be quite negative. Have a look at Abbotts Hall Farm (coastal realignment) and Heathland restoration works at places like the Back Warden, Danbury to see what possible damage they can cause to European Protected Species.

Of course reptiles do not feature high in their priority list and so they are left out of any management plans etc

Our problem is we are seen as trouble makers, upstarts etc so they do not like to work with us........

Good luck

Jon