Matt Cooke ARC's Natur am Byth! Adder Action Project Officer fills us in on what he's been up to during his first busy summer with the project. 

It has been a busy debut summer for me and Adder Action, hosting a variety of events, surveys and training workshops across Wales, whilst making sure to meet with landowners and partner conservation officers to provide adder considerate management advice. Though intense, it has been a wonderful immersion into Welsh adder ecology and conservation, developing a passionate network of adder conservationists, and visiting hidden jewels of wilderness yet defiant to the relentless crush of mankind.

Attending the Gower Show in August was a great experience. A particularly popular event, the annual agricultural show is held at Penrice estate and has become a strong platform for local nature and conservation organisations. Having a Natur am Byth stall dedicated to Adder Action, I was able to raise awareness of the project among recreational countryside users, local landowners and farmers (audiences that historically have been wary of adders). Both children and adults enjoyed handling our adder models, identifying adders from field photographs and drawing their feelings about the species on a colourful A3 poster. We recruited several passionate volunteers, and many visitors were drawn to the stall to share their personal snake stories and memories with us!

Attending the Vale Nature Festival at Porthkerry Country Park in July was also a summer highlight. During the event, I led a public adder walk to explore the nearby hibernacula (shelter used during hibernation) and we saw several beautiful female adders as the sun was setting, much to the delight of several children who had never previously seen this beautiful snake. 

Also in July, Adder Action celebrated world snake day at WWT Llanelli. John Wilkinson and I made use of their fantastic learning spaces and expansive Millennium Wetlands Reserve. We created a ‘Snake Cinema’ where wild footage of adders, smooth snakes and grass snakes was shown on the big screen, before we took a public group out into the field for a reptile survey.

Not all my time was spent in my native South Wales, as I travelled twice to North Wales to conduct two training workshops on Anglesey in collaboration with the RSPB, who have recently announced the adder as a priority species. Taking part on the Range and South Stack reserves of Holyhead, Anglesey, I gave a talk on adder ecology and survey technique for RSPB staff, local volunteers and members of the public. We then conducted an in-person survey of the reserves to spot adders and identify hibernacula.

Despite the end of summer causing adders to seriously consider the shelter of their favourite hibernacula, there is still much work to do for the Adder Action project before the end of the year. A key aim over the next few months is to develop a network of survey volunteers across Wales to ensure we record detailed and expansive adder distribution data from their emergence in 2025. We also plan to create a shortlist of potential hibernacula sites to assess next February to create a map of verified hibernacula across Wales.

If you would like to find out more about the project and how to get involved visit the Adder Action project page.