Celebrating and protecting Adders

admin
, 09 April 2024
Celebrating and protecting Adders
Adder © Dawn and Jim Langiewicz

Kevin Lerwill

Gatwick Greenspace Partnership Project Officer

For thousands of years, people across Europe have welcomed a new spring by seeing the signs of change in the natural world around them; the Dawn Chorus, Snowdrops, Daffodils and Blackthorns in flower, clumps of jelly-like Frogspawn in our ponds and, if you are lucky, an Adder basking in the warmth of the early morning sun.

Sadly though, the last of these natural indicators may soon just be a distant memory, as our Adders are in serious trouble and need our help more than ever before. A combination of habitat loss, disturbance (especially during the spring) and deliberate persecution, are all still contributing to their decline in Britain. It has been estimated that our amazing, beautiful Adders could become extinct within the next 10-20 years unless the current trend rapidly improves*.

What we can all do to help.

  • When walking in the countryside, please keep to the formal Rights of Way (Bridleways and Footpaths).
  • If you have a dog with you, please keep it under close control (or on a lead), especially in the spring/early summer. This will protect your dog, as well as the wildlife that can easily be disturbed or damaged by dogs off the lead.
  • Learn more about Adders by visiting your local Amphibian and Reptile Group’s website or social media pages.
  • If you see one, leave it alone and only take photos from a distance.
  • Record any sightings to your local Reptile Group, your local Wildlife Trust or via the iRecord or iNaturalist apps.
  • Volunteer with a local wildlife conservation group, such as the Gatwick Greenspace Partnership to help maintain their habitats
  • If you witness any deliberate persecution (killing) of Adders, please report it to your local Police Wildlife Crime Officer (All British reptiles are protected from intentional killing, injuring and sale under Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981).

Let’s protect, enjoy and celebrate our native wildlife and hopefully we will all continue to witness all the signs of spring for many more generations to come.

* Based on information in this scientific paper 

Leave a comment
Time Δ Debug Message - Perch Runway 3.2
1787509877.91010 [907] SELECT p.pagePath, pr.routePattern, pr.routeRegExp, p.pageTemplate, pr.routeOrder, s.settingValue AS siteOffline FROM swt_pages_staging p LEFT JOIN swt_page_routes pr ON p.pageID=pr.pageID LEFT JOIN swt_settings s ON s.settingID='siteOffline' UNION SELECT NULL AS pagePath, pr2.routePattern, pr2.routeRegExp, pr2.templatePath AS pageTemplate, pr2.routeOrder, NULL AS siteOffline FROM swt_page_routes pr2 WHERE templateID!=0 ORDER BY routeOrder ASC, pagePath ASC
1787509877.94330.0332Matched route: news/[slug:s]
1787509877.94350.0001Server address: 216.73.217.165
1787509877.94350Using master page: /templates/pages/blog/post.php
1787509877.94350Page arguments: 
Array
(
    [0] => /news/celebrating-and-protecting-adders
    [s] => celebrating-and-protecting-adders
    [1] => celebrating-and-protecting-adders
)
1787509877.94380.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1787509877.94490.0011 [86] SELECT DISTINCT settingID, settingValue FROM swt_settings WHERE userID=0
1787509877.94660.0018 [1] SELECT locationID FROM swt_shop_tax_locations WHERE locationIsHome=1 LIMIT 1
1787509877.94730.0007INSERT INTO swt_shop_cart(memberID,locationID,currencyID,cartPricing,cartProperties) VALUES(NULL,'1',47,'standard','[]')
1787509877.95090.0036 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=24413729
1787509877.95160.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=24413729
1787509877.95240.0008 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_sales WHERE saleFrom<='2026-08-23 18:31:00' AND saleTo>'2026-08-23 18:31:00' AND saleActive=1 AND saleDeleted IS NULL ORDER BY saleOrder ASC
1787509877.95380.0014 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='celebrating-and-protecting-adders')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-08-23 18:31:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 10
1787509877.95840.0046 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1787509877.95920.0008 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postID=3354 AND postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-08-23 18:31:00'
1787509877.96030.0011 [13] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_sections ORDER BY sectionTitle ASC
1787509877.96120.0009 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blogs ORDER BY blogTitle ASC
1787509877.9620.0008 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=78 LIMIT 1
1787509877.96270.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=53 LIMIT 1
1787509877.96390.0012Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1787509877.96410.0002 [162] SELECT catID, catPath FROM swt_categories
1787509877.96530.0012 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-08-23 18:31:00' AND postSlug='celebrating-and-protecting-adders'
1787509877.99460.0293Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1787509877.99530.0007 [250] SELECT country, countryID FROM swt_shop_countries WHERE countryActive=1 ORDER BY country ASC
1787509877.99720.002Using template: /templates/pages/attributes/seo.html
1787509877.99750.0003 [1] SELECT regionID, regionTemplate, regionPage, regionRev AS rev FROM swt_content_regions WHERE regionKey='Banner image' AND (regionPage='/news/post' OR regionPage='*')
1787509877.99850.001 [nil] SELECT * FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, c.regionID, idx.pageID, c.itemJSON, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_content_index idx JOIN swt_content_items c ON idx.itemID=c.itemID AND idx.itemRev=c.itemRev AND idx.regionID=c.regionID JOIN swt_content_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev AND idx2.indexKey='_order' WHERE ((idx.regionID=104 AND idx.itemRev=0)) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev ) as tbl GROUP BY itemID, pageID, itemJSON, sortval, regionID ORDER BY sortval ASC
1787509877.99990.0014 [82] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageDepth >=0 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1787509878.00420.0043 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1787509878.00490.0007 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1787509878.00690.0021Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template.html
1787509878.0070 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1787509878.00750.0005 [4] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1787509878.0080.0004 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1787509878.01070.0028 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1787509878.01180.001 [7] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1787509878.01260.0008 [9] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1787509878.0150.0024 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' OR pageSortPath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1787509878.0160.001 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageHidden=0 AND pageNew=0 AND pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition
1787509878.01850.0025 [1] Using template: /templates/navigation/breadcrumbs.html
1787509878.0190.0005Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1787509878.01930.0002 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='1' LIMIT 1
1787509878.02010.0009Using template: /templates/blog/author.html
1787509878.02050.0004 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='celebrating-and-protecting-adders')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-08-23 18:31:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 1
1787509878.02250.002 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1787509878.02310.0005 [1] Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1787509878.02580.0027Using template: /templates/blog/comment_form.html
1787509878.02670.0009 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_comments WHERE 1=1 AND postID=3354 AND commentStatus='LIVE' ORDER BY FIELD(webmentionType, 'like', 'repost', 'comment', NULL) ASC, commentDateTime ASC
1787509878.09370.067 [0] Using template: /templates/blog/comment.html
1787509878.0940.0003Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1787509878.09430.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='1' LIMIT 1
1787509878.09520.0009 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/what-we-do' OR pageSortPath='/what-we-do' LIMIT 1
1787509878.09640.0013 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-002' LIMIT 1
1787509878.09750.001 [7] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-002%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1787509878.10080.0034 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1787509878.10170.0008 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1787509878.10460.0029 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1787509878.10540.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1787509878.10620.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1787509878.10670.0005 [38] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1787509878.11110.0043 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1787509878.11180.0007 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1787509878.11520.0034 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1787509878.11870.0035 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/visit' OR pageSortPath='/visit' LIMIT 1
1787509878.11980.0011 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-004' LIMIT 1
1787509878.12070.0009 [30] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-004%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1787509878.12490.0042 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1787509878.12570.0007 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1787509878.12880.0031 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1787509878.13120.0025 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1787509878.13230.001 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1787509878.1330.0008 [11] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1787509878.13610.0031 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1787509878.13670.0006 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1787509878.13930.0026 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1787509878.14070.0013Request time: 0.2333
1787509878.14070Process time: 0.2331
1787509878.14070Memory: 1.6226