Adder research in the North Pennines

23 July 2024

Blog by Samuel Betts, Field Assistant

My name is Samuel and I am a field assistant with the North Pennines National Landscape team, working on the Adders Up research project. I work alongside researcher, Lucy Struthers, to study the genetic status of adders in the North Pennines.

I have been fascinated by snakes for as long as I can remember and this led me to a master’s degree in biology. I have since worked on snake projects in the UK, Madagascar, and Tasmania. My main passion is venomous snakes and, in particular, Britain’s native adder, Vipera berus. Lucy has a masters in science in quantitative methods in biodiversity, conservation and epidemiology. She first discovered her passion for native reptiles during undergraduate research on slow worms and smooth snakes. She fell in love with adders during an internship in the South Downs gaining experience in radio telemetry and adder handling. Together, we are working to locate adders in the North Pennines and collect DNA samples to determine how genetically isolated adder populations are in this landscape. It is a big challenge to find these small, shy, and secretive snakes in such a vast landscape. I’ll try to explain what we are doing, why we are doing it, and how we are going about it.

The North Pennines National Landscape team is working in partnership with Newcastle University to understand the current status of adders in the North Pennines by identifying populations at greatest risk of extinction and priority areas for improving habitat connectivity. This information will be used to inform local conservation efforts and advise conservation efforts across similar landscapes in the UK. The motivation for this research comes from results of a citizen science project, ‘Make the Adder Count‘, which indicated that small adder populations could become extinct by 2032. This is particularly concerning given that over 90% of adder populations in this study were classed as small and having fewer than ten individuals.

Currently, not much is known about adders in the North Pennines National Landscape. Looking at distribution maps, there are huge expanses of suitable habitat with no records. This project aims to fill in these gaps, to collect DNA samples from as many different populations as possible, and to gather as much information as we can to best inform conservation efforts of these vulnerable and declining animals.

Our general process for collecting genetic samples is as follows:

1. We locate an adder (easier said than done in 200,000 hectares of possible habitat).
2. After carefully assessing the condition of the individual adder (we do not take a sample from a snake that is shedding or in poor condition), we safely catch the snake using specialist venomous snake handling gloves.
3. We place the snake in a bag and weigh it (the bag also helps to calm the snake). At the same time, one of us takes a temperature reading of the basking spot and a GPS location of where the snake was found.
4. We take a photograph of the snake’s head which enables us to identify each adder as they have unique markings and head scale patterns.
5. We gently guide the snake into a clear tube. This helps calm and control the snake, reducing stress and keeping it safe while we work.
6. We use special sterilised surgical scissors to cut the edge of three to four ventral scales (from the belly of the snake). These are thin slivers of the scale (approximately 2 x 5mm), and the process is harmless to the snake, it’s like trimming a fingernail.
7. We measure the snake and release it at the site of capture so it can go on with its day, thanking it for its contribution.

The whole process from capture to release takes two to three minutes, and we ensure the snakes are returning to their natural behaviour. The welfare of the snake is our primary focus and we have observed them quickly returning to their preferred basking site where they were found. Following this, we begin searching for the next snake and continue until we have four samples from each site.

Once the samples are collected, we take them to the laboratory at Newcastle University and, under the supervision of Dr Simon Maddock, we process the samples before sending them away to be sequenced in a larger laboratory. Whole genome sequencing of each snake will give us amazing detail to compare individuals and populations. From this we can find out which snakes are siblings, which groups are separate populations, which populations are inbred and isolated, and which are mixing with others. This data will give us greater insight into how we can focus conservation efforts in the North Pennines. For example, which areas may need habitat enhancement and which populations need improvements in connectivity. These genomes will also be available for use by other scientists to compare populations and conduct other research that contributes to the wider knowledge of adders in the UK and further afield.

Look out for future posts to follow our study of these beautiful and misunderstood snakes. If you are fortunate enough to see an adder, please remember ‘SSS’ – Stop, Step back, Smile – and please add your record to iRecord, so we can continue to learn more about adders in the North Pennines.

The Adders Up project is led by the North Pennines National Landscape team and funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Northumbrian Water’s Branch Out Fund.