MY FIRST INTRO TO A SMOOTHSNAKE

In the late 1950s on a  sand lizard safari from the big smokey capital to the then very distant beautiful sand dunes of Studland bay in the days when it was'nt clogged up with cars like today, when you couldnt walk more then few yards in the heather clad sand dunes without tripping over a sand lizard sloworms adders or common lizs , alas not like that anymore  wonderful days.  As a 14 year old the expectations of seeing a smooth snake was ones mecca in life. then from some  sand dunes about 50 feet were I was trying to catch a sand lizard came a loud cry kill the bugger and other worse  blasphemies nasty filthy thing this comming from a group of bug collectors . hearing this my curiosity took hold and I strolled over ( more then  likley ran those days. ) to see what the commotion was. and to my horror see some idiot prancing & waving  around his head   a dead smooth snake claiming  he had just saved one of his bug group from being bitten.my first smoothsnake  siting.  keith

Edited by AGILIS

hi keith,

theres a longstanding adder (+ viv) colony in an old churchyard (yes, those places again!) in the town of STROUD, Glos.
in the early eighties large knee-jerk signs were put up saying "danger- adders" "beware!" etc.
perhaps predictably, this resulted in hot-headed and ignorant folk going there to kill them with spades.
after a while the council thankfully saw sense and removed them.
theres plenty to see there now. adders and vivs. as another forum member can also attest to. not least with a certain amazing lacerta pic elsewhere.....


a happy ending here at least.

ben

The Stroud cemetry still has "Caution: Adders live here" on all the signs, but they're not big and prominent. There's also slow worms and grass snake present. Have never seen the adders there yet, though.

hi keith,

adders are definately present at the location.
a couple of years ago on a NARRS training day RAUK member kevinb presented a young one to our group headed by chris gleed-owen.
we also saw vivs that day. and AF. no natrix/amphibians that i recall.

in fact it was a great day for our sharp-eyed kev all round. not only did he sucessfully choose a great herp location (where Robinswood Hill had dismally failed), he was among the first to spot a viv lizard basking and most notably, it was also one of the few occasions hes managed to handle a vipera specimen without having to go to hospital afterwards.

big signs USED to face onto the road. good riddance.
cheers, ben

thanks keith. yes i misunderstood you then sorry!

i was previously blissfully unaware of your last sad fact about adders in formaldehyde and it reminds me horribly of the souvenir rattles being offered for sale as keyfobs in the awful so-called US "rattlesnake round-ups".

unwarranted persecution and exploitation more like. both US and UK.

anyhow, we cant offer anyone luxuries like CA or LA (or the more controversial PM/L viridis- far as i know!) here in GLOS but if anyones ever in this neck of the woods, the aforementioned cemetery (and plenty of other local sites) are worth an hour or two for the "regulars". BB RT all the caudata, VB NN AF ZV are all easily found in stroud at the right time at locations in or within short reach of the boneyard by car
thankfully stroud has never been an arable area so its better "preserved" than many spots. less hedge removal etc. its very scenic too with its steep hillsides.

sorry, i sound like the stroud tourist board dont i?!


obviously we're no match for King Dorset in terms of diversity of species but we DO have a canal dwelling T scripta elegans if that helps!

cheers, ben