Heathlands are the perfect home for reptiles - there is no question! Their sandy soils and scrubby nature provide the right habitat they need to thrive. So, when the Saving Worcestershire’s Heathlands project began, it was the perfect opportunity to start surveying them on Dropping Well Farm.

There had previously been no reptile records on Dropping Well Farm, only anecdotal records from Blackstone and two brief surveys carried out on the heath over a decade ago. We started surveying them using reptile mats in areas which are sun-lit to provide optimal resting places for any reptiles passing-by. Anybody working on the project recorded on ad hoc basis if they were working near to mats to monitor and potential disturbance.

We now have confirmation that common lizards are found throughout parts of Dropping Well Farm and Blackstone Farm Fields and are foraging out in the fields. Slow worms, including juveniles, have also been found in several places on the heath for the first time. In addition, observant staff and volunteers have spotted grass snakes hunting on the heath and in the fields. The reptiles on the heath have been found using areas where there is previous disturbance, uneven ground and some cover.

A lot of the habitat management and heathland restoration we have undertaken through the project has benefitted reptiles. Within Dropping Well Farm and some of Blackstone Farm Fields, habitat banks have been made to create open, bare ground, which in turn encourages heathland flora to take hold, exposes areas for invertebrates and basking spots for reptiles. Log piles and natural compost piles have been created at the edges of these banks through the help of volunteers and regular practical sessions with schools. This has involved taking vegetation which has been cleared to create open spaces for the benefit of heathland flora and piling it at the sides. This has given common lizards, grass snakes and slow worms the best of both worlds: sunny basking places on the sandy banks and refugia to shelter in.

We believe adders became extinct on these sites in the 80s. The consequence of, at that time, a diminished heathland encroached upon by dense tree cover and an extreme fire and probable persecution. We are delighted though to have three of our native species still on site. The earlier heath surveys also revealed that common lizards colonised the restored areas of heath once the tree cover was reduced.