Reptiles

Holt Lowes is home to four species of reptile: Adder, Grass Snake, Common Lizard and Slow-worm. In order to see these you have to be looking for them:-

• Look very quietly – they are very sensitive to vibration
• Look at the right time of year – usually the early spring
• Look at the right time of day, as reptile activity is temperature dependent. They are ‘cold-blooded’ and need to warm-up in a morning by basking in the sun. This is vital in February- April when they have come out of hibernation and are getting ready to court and mate. Mornings are therefore best
• Look in the right places – small clearings or edges of dense vegetation which are sheltered from a cold wind and facing the sun.

Adders

Adders are relatively common on Holt Lowes but can be hard to see. They hibernate in the winter, but will emerge to bask in the sunshine from late January onwards. The prefer secluded spots that are close to cover, and will quickly move off if disturbed. They will bask in almost any weather, unless it is raining or there is a cold wind. By April they have become more active as the breeding season approaches. Over the summer rhey are much harder to find, as they are very alert and will move away quickly. In the autumn they bask again near to the hibernation spots before withdrawing underground for the winter.

Adders are poisonous, but rarely bite humans unless they are interferred with (usually bite victims have tried to pick them up!). The bite is not fatal, and it is best to stay calm, move as little as possible and seek medical help. The main risk to life is a severe alergic reaction. Adders will bite dogs if they get too close or attack them but again, keep calm, move the dog as little as possible and take the animal to the vets.

Please note that Adders are protected by law and it is illegal to harm them.

After emerging from hibernation the adders prepare to slough their skins. The new skins are more brightly coloured and it is easy to distinguish males – bluey grey and females (larger,olive green, with a distinctly narrowed tail.

The following sequence shows courtship and mating in adders, which takes place around the first week in April. Females tend to be on their own to bask after hibernation whereas males tend to be in a group – sometimes up to 15! So males have to search for the females

• a male adder (silver grey background) searching for a female (olive green/brown background with a very narroed tail
• he begins courtship with jerky movements of his body and tongue flicking
• a rival male appears and they compete with each other in the famous adder dance.
• the winning male comes back to the female and eventually they start to mate. They are locked together by the spines on his penis. The union lasts for about 40 minutes

Adder females retain the embryos inside their bodies and give birth to live young during the summer

Grass Snake

Grass Snakes are becoming increasingly common on the Lowes and can often be seen basking alongside adders as you can see here in the video

Grass snakes are a pale green and they do not have the black zigzag marking all down their back like adders do, They are just as much a predator as the adder is but they are not poisonous. They are more attracted to wetter areas and swim well.

Unlike adders they lay eggs which need warmth to hatch. Grass Snakes usually lay their eggs in piles of rotting vegetation using the heat from the decomposition process. The Lowes has several such piles of vegetation. Every year the milled gorse and birch waste from conservation practices is added to previously established piles. Not only do the snakes lay their eggs in these they also use them as safe warm places for hibernation! This conservation technique probably accounts for the successful increase in Grass snakes on the Lowes. Last year 46 sloughed skins were found by one vegetation pile!

Common Lizard

Common Lizards are declining on the Lowes. However they are not easy to find. Careful and silent searching is required along say the edge of a clearing orin the vegetation alongside a track. The lizards, just like the snakes have regular basking spots.

Common lizards are ovoviviperous ie they don’t lay eggs but retain them in the females body to hatch and the young are born live

Here is a lizard basking and moving through the gorse. Notice it has a large tick on it, probably a deer tick.

Slow-worm

Slow worms may look like snakes but they are really legless lizards! Like lizards they can shed their tails if caught as an escape mechanism. They also can blink. Snakes don’t have eyelids.

They hibernate below ground or under some protection emerging in March. Like all reptiles they have to gain body heat to be active, and that activity increases in May when it is the mating season. Males fight for several hours and it is probably about this time that you are more likely to spot them!

Amphibians

Newts

Frogs and Toads