Adder elsewhere

[Flywaver]

Many years ago i heard a stories of P-way chaps on the Railway getting into encounters with Adders, often with them hiding in cable covers etc.
Its a great area for them with plenty of embankments etc..
Now when you look at Adder distribution it show there natural habitat as well as hearing odd areas like old quarries. But i wonder are Adders and maybe other wildlife just a little more distributed,as access to Railways and other areas are forbidden to the public which keeps them protected?

[james bennet]

I have no doubt you're right. Railway embankments are known to be good comon lizard habitats too, precisely because they are rarely disturbed by people (and the wildlife soon gets used to trains). It's amazing what areas wildlife will colonise. I have seen hares along airport runways and peregrines nesting on an artillery target on salibury plain (luckily disused!).

[arvensis]

Railways are good for reptiles(and wildlife in general) and I have seen 5 of the 6 native species on railway property(I work on the railway). In my opinion, railway reptiles are far less likely to have records on databases compared to say a nature reserve.

For that reason, it is possible that in some counties where populations are sparse, railways harbour populations that are as yet, unrecorded on nature databases.

Mark