Believe it or not, we are actually in the middle of the city of London.
Now, when you think of the types of wildlife you can spot in the city,
snakes are probably not the first thing that springs to mind.
But I am here today with Museum scientist Jeff Streicher
and we are going snake spotting, aren't we? That's correct.
And tell us what we're looking for.
So today, we're going to visit one of the few places in London
where you can see a really cool species called the adder.
So excited.
This could be my first time seeing an adder. I hope so.
Should we go? Yeah, let's go ahead, over here first I think.
It's a lovely spring day. It's beautiful.
This morning when we woke up, it was, I think, one degree.
Yeah, about 35 degrees Fahrenheit.
And there was frost on all of the plants around.
You don't imagine that a cold-blooded animal would be active then.
But actually, as the Sun comes out, things heat up really quickly
and they actually will use that heat to become active.
And this is a very classic part of their springtime activity as they get ready to mate
and build up their reserves for feeding and things like that.
So this is the perfect time of year then to be able to spot them? Yeah.
So this is one of the reclaimed heathlands that I was telling you about,
which is a great habitat to find adders in.
It's absolutely beautiful. Stunning, kind of it's almost, it's hard to believe we're in the middle of the city,
except for when the aircraft go.
Yeah, yeah absolutely.
A telltale sign, but it's beautiful.
I agree with you 100%, it's a wonderful place to escape to.
And it's one of my favourite places to go to in the city.
Definitely.
We're actually walking through evidence of one of the big challenges
that species like adders face in living in a big urban area with lots of people in it.
And we're actually walking through burn parts of the heathland that local authorities have told us
were either an accident caused by people or potentially even intentionally caused by people.
And so this really highlights one of the challenges that these species
face when they're living in such close contact with people all the time.
You can see the area around all of the vegetation that we see
adders concealing themselves in is gone.
And so if they survive the fire, they have to go somewhere else.
But there's only so much of this habitat that they can escape to.
Yeah, absolutely.
It's really, really sad to see this.
This is unfortunately not the only burnt patch in the area. It’s a real pity.
Is habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, a big problem for snakes?
It's a big issue for snakes.
Like many terrestrial species, the smaller their preferred habitats become,
the smaller the population sizes tend to become.
And then essentially they get to a point where they're at high risk of local extinction
or what we call extirpation.
It's a real pity.
But there is plenty more beautiful heathland to have a look at
so shall we go and see what we can find? Let's do that. That sounds great.
Adders are the UK's only venomous snake,
is that right?
That's correct, yeah.
And how dangerous is their venom? How worried should we be?
Well, it really depends,
I mean, like any venomous animal, they're dangerous.
Particularly if you have a bad allergy to the proteins that are in their venom.
But as venomous snakes go, and for the average person,
they're one of the least dangerous venomous snakes, actually.
Particularly the populations we have here in the UK.
So most people that have been unfortunate enough to be bitten by one survive the bite.
But really there's no reason that people.
Well what I should say is that most of the people that have been
bitten by them are bitten because they're doing something
they shouldn't like picking the snake up or something like that.
They really are the kind of wildlife that's best enjoyed from a distance.
Absolutely. Which is what we're doing today.
100%. Yes, absolutely.
The best way to kind of approach and try and spot them is is quietly?
That's right. Absolutely.
And what we can kind of do is walk right along this grassy area here
and we can look in between the grass.
Specifically places that probably rabbits and other and some medium-sized birds have pressed down the grass.
They love to sit on top of those areas and really soak up some Sun.
So if we just walk along the perimeter of this grassy area,
it's possible we can see some.
And what should we be looking out for?
What are their kind of distinctive features?
Well, where once you get a what we call a search image for them,
they're quite easy to see.
But until you have that, it can be very tricky
because they have a mixed colour pattern on them that makes them very difficult
to see if you're not sure what you're looking for.
They're quite cryptic, but where going to be looking for them.
Is that the base of these plants here, kind of just coiled up getting some Sun,
Alison look at that one.
If you look right there in between.
Ok if you follow this clump of grass here, and you look just below it,
there's an adder sunning there.
Oh, I see., I see it. That is so cool.
It's been a fantastic day Jeff thank you so much for showing me around
and showing me my first ever adder in real life.
It's been absolutely brilliant.
I'm so excited that you got to see an adder
and it really was a wonderful way to spend a spring morning.
Yeah, it is just amazing how close we can get to nature, how much
incredible nature is just under our noses if we look for it.
Absolutely.