SARG NEWS - 17 October 2010

SARG NEWS - 17 October 2010

For next year, SARG has chosen the adder to be its 'species in focus'. This fits in nicely with the current Adder Project, which is a collaboration of south east regional groups to accurately map the known distribution of the adder, and to find new locations.

This afternoon, SARG surveyors visited Banstead Heath to try to establish adder presence. It was late in the year for adder activity, but the bright sunshine raised our hopes. It is important to establish whether adders are present at Banstead, as the Heath is under threat from a major water pipeline development.

Most of the heath is deemed to offer suitable habitat, and the day was made more than worth while with two beautiful juvenile adders spotted and photographed.

If you have seen an adder in 2010, or even in past years, can you please submit a sighting report on the SARG website? We need an approximate date for the sighting, and you can click on a map to record the location. ALL sightings are valuable to us, and we can sort the probables from the certainties. If you have a photo of the animal you saw, please say so in the comments field.

Below is a picture of the first adder sighting today, courtesy of Jonathan Cooper, one of the Banstead Commons Conservators. Thanks also to Richard Knights, Banstead Commons Warden for giving up part of his Sunday to show us around the Heath.