ADDERS - in search of the UK's only venomous snake.
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- čas přidán 23. 03. 2023
- March 21st, what I consider to be the first day of spring in the UK, is traditionally the first day of the year I go searching for adders. Here, I take a trip to Cannock Chase in Staffordshire to look for and photograph adders, the UK's only venomous snake.
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Hi, thanks for sharing this video. When i was 10 years old myself, my two friends and their Dad were walking near Postbridge on Dartmoor Devon when i felt a pain in my left ankle, i thought at first i had caught a bramble thorn however, when i looked down i saw an adder moving away from my foot. The path was around a foot wideby a stone wall. We made our way to the little shop at Postbridge where they called the ambulance. The ambulance got to me in 20 minutes from freedom fields Hospital in Plymouth, which i thought was amazing by the driver. By the time they arrived my leg was swollen, i was unable to make out my ankle. On arrival at the Hospital i had anti-venom and several Doctors came to see me from different departments amazed at seeing their first snake bite. I spent three weeks at home recovering with one trip back to hospital for pain management. My apologies for the long winded message, but this was my experience of getting on the wrong end of an adder. Even after this i have no fear of snakes at all.
Great little anecdote thanks for sharing. I know a few people who’ve been bitten and they’ve all had quite serious reactions. Another very good reason why I don’t handle them lol. Thanks for watching and commenting. And well done for not fearing them despite being bitten.
We have them in Portugal too and one of my family members got bitten on an arm while handling potato leafs and she had a rough time recovering from that bite. Apparently, aside from very rare accidental bites, statistics show most adder bites in Portugal result from people purposely handling the snakes, men being the most bitten.
I didn't know that the UK had venomous snakes. Very cool. Thank you for the video.
You do now 😀. Thanks for watching and commenting.
You couldn’t pay me enough to go into that field with you. But I enjoyed watching it from the safety of my sofa. Nice camerawork too.
Thank you ❤. They're really very shy creatures and won't bother you unless you bother them, which of course I do lol. How on earth do you cope with taipans, brown snakes, tiger snakes and death adders lol?
@@adogaday Ha ha, well in fact I do see my share of snakes because my hobby is bird photography. The species I most commonly see are eastern browns, red bellied blacks and carpet pythons. When I see them on a track I give them right of way. When I’m trudging through the bush I wear thick gators and make lots of noise.
@@elspeth8876 Very sensible. Bird photography though...very challenging. The little buggers never stop moving lol.
Magic the gathering fan? Elspeth 😊
I take my kids every year to find adders, we usually find slow worms and common lizards too. I’ll be out this week if the weather suits. Last year we had a grass snake in the garden, it ended up shedding its skin just 10 foot ( 3m ) from our back door which was only the 2nd time I’d ever found one.
Good stuff. Used to love taking my kids lizard and snake hunting too. They still enjoy it now they’re adults. grass snake in the garden…lucky you! Will have to do a video on them too at some point. Thanks for watching and commenting x
We certainly enjoyed watching that. Learned a bit about them as well. We have not seen many. I remember a time when lizards were very common, especially on grass cuttings. Used to see them all the time as a kid but not seen one for years.
Cheers guys. A bit of a departure from the usual stuff but glad you enjoyed it. Yes, for a combination of reasons but mostly habitat loss, reptiles are nowhere near as common a sight as they used to be. Thanks for watching and commenting x
You made that look so easy it is not fair lol! I have yet to see an adder and to think you knew exactly where and when to look and not so far outside a big city either. I didn't know they are more likely to be spotted so early in Spring - an excellent video, thanks.
Thanks. Took me two years of searching before I found my first. It looks easy now but it wasn’t always. Keep persevering and you’ll get there. Best wishes x
Almost stepped on one today at Braunton burrows. First time I’ve ever seen a snake in the UK. Having lived in Africa for many years it was a daily occurrence, and an occurrence with highly venomous ones, but nice to see an adda here in uk.
Nice one. Interestingly I’ve chatted to a few professional herpetologists who’ve spent time in SA and they tell me that they find population densities in Britain are actually higher. Weird 🤷🏻
@@adogaday There are 10 dwarf adder species alone in Southern Africa, with exception to the puff adder which is not a dwarf species. Would be interesting to see what area they analyzed ,SA is 5 times larger than the UK. Possibly on land scale ratio to snake density on a dwarf adder alone they could be correct. SA has approximately 176 species of snakes. I enjoyed catching various different species while I was there, specifically the night adders-, Causus rhombeatus,house snake-Lamprophis,and red lipped heralds-Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia. I left the highly venomous snakes alone.😊Unlike Jason Arnold 😊czcams.com/video/cn4U0d2lGCo/video.htmlsi=Mtbw2lOyUB4APTW_
@@amphibious8872 yes I think that’s what they meant. A couple of hours on Cannock Chase covering less than a square mile and they were able to see 30+ snakes. All the same species though and vast areas of the country with no snakes at all.
Fantastic video very informative. Keep the videos coming👍
Thank you x
Great to see those in what’s basically my backyard, thanks for sharing 👍🏻😎
Thanks for watching. Glad you enjoyed it x
Excellent video and pictures.
Thanks so much for watching and commenting and the positive feedback x
Great interesting video, many thanks
Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it.
Mad.
I had the pleasure of seeing a beautiful large male Adder today here in somerset near a spring on my friends farm.
What a lovely experience x
Awesome thanks for that keep it up mate love your content been looking for Adders in the wild for years now I know how to find them I will get better luck thank you
Thanks. Took me a while but once you’ve got you eye in you’re away.
Interesting video! Learned a lot!
Thank you x
Great video!! Very informative 😁 I’d love to come across an adder some day. I almost stepped on a young grass snake a couple of weeks ago but thankfully I spotted it in time. Thanks for sharing 👍👍
Thanks for watching and the kind comments x
Loved this video. I live in Stafford and do alot of photography and spend alot of time on cannock chase looking for adders but I've never seen one. I will have a look around that area 👍
Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, start there, just by the war cemetery, and head down the sherbrook valley x
@@adogadayno
Nice shots you got of those beautiful snakes...
Thank you.
Great video! I’ve recently been Adder searching on the Chase as we live on the edge of it. Didn’t find any sadly, but after listening to your commentary, I think I’ll be better equipped next time. Many thanks.
Thanks and good luck!
@@adogaday thank you! 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
A very informative video. I have never seem a snake in all the years, when the walking the fields by me. Acres and acres of farming land, now all being built on for new houses sadly. I know the adders are rare and protected, yet they must be there. There is also a long high bank by the old colliery. A narrow path runs aside it. We used to walk the dogs along the path then clamber up to the top of the high bank to walk, looking out.. This area is very undisturbed, it would be a prefect habitat for adders to dwell and bask. I would love someone to go and investigate if there are any snakes.
Thanks for watching and commenting. Whereabouts are you?
*Beautiful* snakes!
They are. Thanks for watching x
Brilliant. I found this video after realising there are adders where i walk my dog. I now keep him on a lead during the spring/summer months. He is very curious so i worry he will get bit. That said im very fascinated by these gorgeous snakes
Thanks for watching and commenting and glad you enjoyed it. Very sensible to keep your dog on a lead, they’re much more vulnerable to adder bites/venom than humans. They can be hard to spot in summer but should start returning to their hibernaculum around October.
Yes that's definitely wise. My friend's greyhound was bitten by an adder April this year and was unfortunately put to sleep, despite weeks of hard work from the vets on trying to save him. Adders are beautiful but very dangerous to our inquisitive four legged chums.
Really interesting stuff, I learned something useful. They are beautiful creatures, we have some locally, but only see them fleetingly.
Glad you found it interesting. There's loads more to learn too but I didn't want to bore everyone lol. They're very shy creatures so a fleeting glance is often all anyone sees of them. They are beautiful though, I agree. Where do you see yours?
@@adogaday We live in west Norfolk and have some nice heathland. I have fleeting seen the odd one. I see grass snakes more often
@@robertwise379 Nice. We drove from Beds to Cromer a year or so ago and it took us through Thetford Forest which looked like good reptile habitat.
Came across one for the first time ever today! Small/Medium sized. Just crossing a footpath, managed to warn a dog walker in front of us!
Awesome. Hope it’s the first of many x
Keep the great videos up man 👍👍🫡😁
Cheers. Appreciate the support.
We have them in Portugal too and one of my family members got bitten on an arm while handling potato leafs and she had a rough time recovering from that bite. Apparently, aside from very rare accidental bites, statistics show most adder bites in Portugal result from people purposely handling the snakes, men being the most bitten.
Great vlog really interesting and can’t believe how many you saw - I would probably simply walk past them and not realise
Cheers guys ❤. Hope you're ok. Let us know if we can be of any help with anything.
@@adogaday thanks
I knew they exsisted in the UK, but also in France. They call them Vipers. I almost stepped on one a few years back while walking in the country, had wellington boots on. It slithered away very fast and I lost it. Good bit of film there at 6:40. Nice part of the world.
Thanks. Yes the common European viper. Easily done, nearly stepping on them. Done it myself a few times.
Very interesting , I saw my first adder yesterday , is that Brindley heath where you parked ? Very interested to find them over the chase as the populations are denser there .
Hi. Thanks for watching and glad you found it interesting. that field is next to the war cemetery. From there all the way down the Sherbrook Valley is a good place to start.
Thank you for sharing, what lens do you use? Hoping to get looking for Adders on my patch next week.
Thanks for watching and commenting. It’s a Tamron 180mm macro. Very sharp but heavy x
Great video Tim!
I was just scrolling and thought some cheeky bugger had stolen your photo... then realised it was your chanel! 😂
lol hi mate. Sorry I missed your comment somehow. My birthday prezzie to myself every year is a trip to the chase. Not this year though as I’ll be in Cornwall. Will be going in April though to see if I can catch them dancing. Give me a shout if you want to hook up.
Brilliant got my favourite spots in Leicester n cromer will give the chase ago next spring
Thanks. Always good to get a few new sites under your belt, especially with habitat loss etc.
I have found 1 early in January couple of years ago in south wales
Nice! Yes you can defo find them earlier. I just like to leave it till march to make sure. Thanks for watching and commenting x
Fab video! How can you tell the difference between male and female by just looking at them?
Thank you. The quickest way and one that is almost 100% reliable but not quite, is the zig zag down the snakes back. In males the zig zag tends to be black and the main body much paler ranging from silver grey to pale brown. The zig zag in females is a paler brown and the main body is also brown. The 100% reliable way is from the tail. Males have a bulge where the hemipenis is which means the body and tail look like they merge smoothly with an even taper all the way to the tip. Females don’t have the hemipenis so the body ends abruptly where the tail starts, making it look a bit like the tail has been stuck on badly lol.
@@adogaday fantastic, thank you so much!
Hi. Fabulous post. I went to that exact spot about 7 years ago with David Nixon.
Only went once since then until last week.
My daughter plagued me to take her somewhere to spot an adder as she had never seen one. We are more into foraging.
We saw two, which we were thrilled about.
Hi Anthony. Thanks for watching. I know Dave well and have been there with him many times.Surprised we haven't met up. I'll be going back mid April to see if I can catch some combat. What's the Chase like for mushrooms? I mostly go local and find a few sp. Keen to find some chanterelles in particular x
@@adogaday Hi, as I mentioned I don't go very often. However we do visit in late summer and autumn for mushrooms. It is fantastic. Never found a chanterelle there but I'm sure they are there.
Just thought I would clarify that I only met David once. He was very kind to take me. Interestingly we went in July on an extremely warm day and he still managed to find one. If you fancy a day mushrooming later in the year let me know. I also have photos of the adders we spotted last Saturday. I thought they were females but now looking at the photos I think they are more likely males ready to slough. Could you confirm one way or the other?
@@anthonycomerford2704 Hi. That would be great. Still a good chance of seeing adders in October too as both males and females start to congregate around their hibernation areas again. Your adders looked like typical pre-slough males I think.
@@adogaday If you want a variety of ground fungi, depending on the summer and rainfall etc, I recommend you try tackerroo about mid September. Amazing variety. Found our largest cep ever in the undergrowth. Be glad to meet up. But as with all things it is down to conditions. I swear my daughter can smell them!
Find slow worms please
I love these beautiful snakes.
Thank you. They are magnificent x
.g husband find adders once a. Month 😂
Id die if i came across one 🥴
You’d be fine. Just don’t try and pick one up lol x
Pick them up
Lol. I have done but prefer to leave them in peace if I can. Thanks for watching.
Please help find a slow worm as my pet ❤
Adders aren't the only venomous snake in the U.K.
My ex wife is out there somewhere.
😂
Hullo
o i hate snakes cant stand them.
😲
*promo sm* 🤷
Could you take this down please, the location has become a circus and the snakes welfare is being compromised, I counted seven people trampling through the habitat a couple of weeks ago, such a shame as it’s a good vid but it’s now doing harm.
😂😂
@@BaxterThewall what’s so funny ?