Help safeguard the future of the smooth snake

Did you know the smooth snake was only discovered as a species in the British Isles in 1853?

What’s the problem?

The smooth snake is Britain's rarest reptile, now only found naturally on the lowland heathlands of Dorset, Hampshire and Surrey. These landscapes are increasingly dwindling due to development pressure, habitat fragmentation, lack of ecologically sound management and fire. Smooth snakes are slow to disperse and highly sensitive to environmental change, making the species an important indicator of whether heathland conservation efforts are working.

Find out more about the smooth snake on our species information page.

How will your donation help?

To ensure the rare smooth snake can thrive throughout its range, we must gain a much better understanding of where it lives, how it interacts with its environment and how different forms of land management affect this. ARC’s activities on behalf of smooth snakes include habitat enhancement, coordinating field surveys, instigating evidence-based research, and raising awareness of reptiles within local communities through education and events programmes.

Your donation will help to support a systematic reptile survey and monitoring programme to find where the animals are present and work out how best to protect them. To achieve this, we are training an army of ‘Reptile Survey Volunteers’ to find smooth snakes on heathlands throughout Southern England, in addition to providing free educational resources and activities for children and adults through our Snakes in the Heather project.

How to sponsor

Simply make a donation via the button below. Donations of any size are welcome!

Donate! 

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