We have contributed to three landscape-level conservation projects co-ordinated by Amphibian and Reptile Groups of the UK:
- Cannock Chase National Landscape Adder Conservation Programme, which was funded by Defra through the Farming in Protected Landscapes Programme
- Secretive Serpents, conserving adders in Norfolk and Suffolk, which was funded by Natural England and Norfolk Wildlife Trust
- Where in the Wyre, a new conservation programme for amphibians and reptiles in the Wyre Forest National Nature Reserve, also funded by Natural England
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All three projects bring together land managers and conservation volunteers to:
- assess the current status and distribution of adders, and other reptiles and amphibians, in their area
- inform habitat management and creation to support populations and improve landscape-level connectivity for these species
We supported the projects by:
- running *4pop models to predict where species are expected to be in the landscape
- presenting model predictions at the projects’ Land Manager Days, which combine talks by species experts, modellers and land managers, with networking to share experiences
- preparing map packs for volunteer surveyors to use, in combination with their local and species knowledge, to help with gathering new species records
- testing the surveyors’ theories as to why some sites predicted to have populations don’t in reality
- taking part in the projects’ Stakeholder Workshops, where land managers and surveyors gather to review model predictions, species records and local opportunities to prioritise habitat creation efforts
- joining ARG UK in sharing the projects’ findings with wider audiences at the Cannock Chase National Landscape Annual Conference and with the Adder Working Group coordinated by Natural England.
*4pop models 