Of dragons and wild horses

…because these are actually ponies.

He raised his regal scaly snout at the vibration of the thudding hooves. Unfurling and tasting the air. Time to move. There was once many of his kind in these lands, fire dragons to the west, water dragons to the east, but he was alone now. His sinuous armoured body curved elegantly through the heather to the safety of the spiky gorse. Peering out, even his misty old eyes could see the glint of light in the mare’s wind ruffled mane. She courteously lowered her soft nose as if sensing his presence. Stepping carefully through the heath she tiptoed past. After waiting some moments to ensure the hooves of the whole herd had moved away, he returned slowly to his favourite basking spot. Flattening his body to absorb the warm spring sun and dreaming. Of what do little dragons dream? Perhaps of being coiled tight around the castle, spitting fury and rage at any Knights who dare challenge him? Or, perhaps not, for this tiny dragon would fit comfortably into my two cupped hands (don’t try it).

This wee dragon is an Adder, one of UK’s three native snakes. Much maligned and misunderstood, many people are fearful of this little reptile. When I see images posted online, the comments often seem to range from “eww” to “evil”. I find this rather sad, because they are fascinating creatures. To me, they carry an air of ancient wisdom and mystery in the gleam of their eyes, yet in character they are incredibly shy and secretive. Normally they prefer to gracefully slip away from any threat, or rely on their very effective camouflage to remain hidden. It certainly does take a while to get your eye in and spot one, like a magic eye book they slowly resolve into vision from between the heather stems and if you blink or look away they might become invisible once more.

Adders are really interesting biologically, the most northerly of the viper species, they are even found in the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia. When you consider that they are exotherms, relying on environmental warmth to function, it really is quite astounding.

Growing to 60cm in length Adders are one of our smaller snakes, the Grass snake being the largest, which can grow up to around 150cm. Female Adders ‘give birth’ to live young, having incubated her eggs internally, an adaptation to the cooler environment and the heathland habitats in which they live.

If I haven’t yet convinced you to love these little dragons, then take a look at the beautiful snake below. This is ‘Graphite’ a gorgeous melanistic Adder from RSPB Minsmere, where they are much studied and individually named. If you ask for a gentleman called Steve he will show you Graphite and the even darker ‘Rylan’ and will happily tell you all about them. It gives me much hope to find people coming to see these special creatures, just as fascinated as I am.

Dark steely grey with the classic black zigzag stripe and a dash of blue on his sides, what a stunning little chap!

On to the ponies! These are part of Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s herd of Dartmoor ponies, the largest herd outside of Devon. This rare and endangered breed makes an excellent conservation steward, browsing the scrub to maintain the open heathland habitats.

The Adder population has declined in recent years, primarily due to habitat loss, as these site faithful and habitat specific creatures cannot readily move into new areas. Habitat fragmentation reduces the gene pool making small isolated populations unsustainable. They are also highly sensitive to disturbance, if repeatedly disturbed they cannot bask for long enough which affects their condition for breeding. On that note, all of my photos here were taken with my long lens at a distance, and all Adders remained, still basking, when I moved away.

If you’d like to spot Adders yourself, I highly recommend a visit to Minsmere where the friendly volunteers can point them out without disturbing them.

Thanks for reading and a warm welcome to my recent new subscribers, I’m so happy you’re here and I hope you enjoy my writing. I aim to publish a new letter once a month, but sometimes more depending on what I’ve been up to. March was a quiet month photographically, so I’m keen to get out and about in April!

Thanks so much for reading, please do like, share and leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!

Until next time,

Dawn.

Further Reading:

Learn more about Adders: https://www.arc-trust.org/adder

Learn more about Norfolk’s conservation ponies: https://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/ponies

Visit RSPB Minsmere: https://www.rspb.org.uk/days-out/reserves/minsmere