|
"The
gardeners employed at villas close to the metropolis
occasionally raise an alarm, and profess to have
seen a viper in the shrubberies..."
(Jefferies,
1893) |
Download
this Action Plan in full
1.
Aims
|
To
protect and conserve the native reptile populations
of Greater London. |
|
To
save the adder from its imminent extinction in Greater
London. |
|
To
promote wider awareness of reptile conservation in Greater
London. |
2. Introduction
The common lizard
Lacerta vivipara, slow-worm Anguis fragilis (a legless lizard)
and two snakes, the grass snake Natrix natrix and adder
Vipera berus, all occur in Greater London. Whilst the lizards
and grass snake are still fairly widespread, adders are
exceedingly rare in London, and are found at only a handful
of sites.
Being cold-blooded,
reptiles need warm sites for basking to raise their body
temperature. The open, dry nature of heathlands, and chalk
and acid grasslands often provide these basking areas, as
well as plenty of cover and food, and are the habitats with
which most reptiles are commonly associated. The exception
is the grass snake, which has more affinity with wetland
habitats.
British reptiles
are inactive between mid-October and March, hibernating
below ground in disused mammal burrows, inside buried stonework,
deep within grass tussocks or among tree roots. On emergence
from hibernation in the spring, they can often be seen basking
in the open. Slow-worms and common lizards live mostly on
invertebrates insects, spiders and small slugs and snails.
The two snakes hunt by stealth, preying on amphibians, small
mammals and even their smaller reptilian cousins.
People sometimes
see adders as a threat, as they are the only venomous snake
in Britain. However, bites to humans are extremely uncommon.
Our use and abuse of the places where adders occur presents
a far greater threat to them than they pose to us.
Contact
The lead for this species is the English
Nature
Home
|