Snakes Alive! UK’s Rarest Snake Being Reintroduced to Devon

Smooth snakes are to be released in Devon, where they have not been seen for over 50 years.

Ten smooth snakes (Coronella austriaca) will be collected, under license, from several populations in Dorset, and released at one of the RSPB’s heathland nature reserves, under a project organized by Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, East Devon Pebblebed Heaths Conservation Trust and the RSPB, with support from Natural England, according to The Mid Devon Star.

Conservationists have found the East Devon heaths to be in “superb condition.” This made it possible for a site with “excellent quality of heath” to be chosen for the smooth snakes – a site that will provide the best opportunity for the species to expand into a much wider range.

Currently, the shy and non-venomous smooth snake is found only on lowland heaths in Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Dorset. They disappeared from a significant portion of their range, due to habitat loss.

Nick Moulton, from Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, said in the same article:

Historically, much of the former heathland areas have been lost to many land use pressures and the remaining sites are often fragmented and isolated. The smooth snake is not very mobile and in many cases cannot naturally re-colonise isolated heathland sites. With this re-introduction, all we do is give the animals a helping hand to cross these areas.

About the smooth snake

• The name comes from the fact that its scales are flat and smooth, with no ridge or keel down the middle of each scale.
• Small, slender snake that usually only grows to 60-70cm in length.
• Generally grey or dull brown in color, with black markings arranged in bars or two rows of dots down the back, with a heart shape covering the top of the head and an eye stripe that extends from the head along the side of the neck and front part of the body.
• Non-venomous and feeds mainly on lizards, in particular Common Lizards and Slow-worms which are captured and constricted in coils of its body, and small mammals (especially shrews and nestling rodents).
• Smooth snakes bear live young in September.
• Smooth snakes require the mature vegetation of heaths in order to remain well-hidden.

The most endearing habit of the smooth snake is that instead of stretching out in the sun to bask like most reptiles, the smooth snake basks “entwined amongst the stems of heather plants where it is superbly camouflaged.”

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/maxorz/ / CC BY 2.0