Because reptiles are cold-blooded, relying on the outside temperature to be warm enough to feed and function, finding them all depends on the weather!
If the day is mild and sunny reptiles can be found sunbathing in sheltered sunny places. If the weather is hot and dry they may become dormant to avoid the heat. It's easier to see them on sunny days after rain when they will be basking to warm up. The best time is before or after the heat of midday.
Viviparous Lizards spend the nights underground in a burrow or in walls with the entrance normally facing the rising sun. Roadside banks that face the sun are a typical place to find them, but any raised feature in the landscape can be used. Lizards eat invertebrates and small snails.
Slow-worms occur in many gardens and allotments. They are found in tussocky grasslands and like sunny embankments. They are less easy to see than Viviparous Lizards as they bask in more concealed places. Slow-worms feed on slugs and snails so are great pest controllers in gardens.
Unlike lizards that have live young, snakes lay eggs, which you can sometimes find - Grass Snakes can use compost heaps to lay their eggs in.
Adders are found in a wide variety of habitats but not in dense woodland. They are widespread in heathland and grassland habitats. In wetter areas they use drier tussocks of vegetation. Adders feed on lizards and small mammals, fledglings and large invertebrates. They are venomous and their painful bite requires medical treatment but they are rarely dangerous, and their bite is a less likely cause of human death than a wasp or bee sting.
Grass Snakes are less likely to be seen than Adders, as they do not return to the same basking spot. They can swim and are usually found near water feeding on frogs, newts, tadpoles and fish. Grass Snakes are not venomous and are harmless to humans, but if you handle one they may squirt an unpleasant fluid at you.
Don't forget to tell us where you saw your reptile!
In the BRERC region we have two species of lizard- the Viviparous or Common Lizard and the Slow-worm. They can easily be distinguished - the Viviparous Lizard has legs and the Slow-worm doesn't. Both species will drop their tails if handled.
Viviparous Lizard Lacerta vivipara
Lizards are small (up to 14 cm). They vary in colour usually in shades of green and brown with dark markings. The head has a distinctly pointed snout.
Slow-worm Anguis fragilis
This legless lizard looks like a small snake, but is cylindrical like a worm. Slow-worms are totally harmless. They grow up to half a metre in length and have very small scales and look shiny and metallic. The young and females are gold or silver with dark sides and a fine stripe down the back; males are cream, brown or grey. Some Slow-worms have occasional blue scales.
Grass snake Natrix natrix
At up to a metre long this is the longest snake in Britain. Grass Snakes are variable in colour and pattern; usually they are green, brown or grey with black spots on the back and sides. The best identification feature to use is a light-yellow to orange-red collar just behind the head.
Adder Vipera berus
Adders are shorter than Grass Snakes and grow up to 800 mm long, although they can look larger than they are. A central zig-zag pattern runs along the back and the tail. Females are larger than males and are pale brown to gingery-red with a dark brown zig-zag. Males are lighter with a very dark or black zig-zag. Occasionally very dark black snakes with no obvious zig-zag are found.
Nationally, all species of reptiles have declined markedly. As cold-blooded animals they are dependent on the micro-climate of a site (the temperature and shade conditions on a small scale) so they are vulnerable to even small damage to a site. Often reptiles occur in isolated areas surrounded by a hostile environment - this adds to their vulnerability, if a habitat changes they have nowhere else to go and a whole population will be lost.
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