Getting to know our adders
In the 80s, a pioneering adder conservationist called Sylvia Sheldon working in the Wyre Forest noticed that each little mosaic of scales on the top of an adders head are unique and can act like a fingerprint to identify individuals. And, like our fingerprints, these scale patterns don’t change from birth to old age. Since then, large-scale studies have corrorborated her handwritten findings using DNA testing.
We were really interested to find out more about the secret lives of the adders we have here on the Patch and so we have set up out own adder identification project, logging individuals, and what they have been up to over the years and you can explore our data below.
You can click on individual adders to see our records of them and you can view the population stats and trends. Enjoy!