Adders - The ONLY venomous snake within the UK. This may sound impressive, but this has lead to the species being villainized. 

Common European Adder (Vipera berus) are a non-aggressive species, which only attack when they are under threat. Adder bites tend to be the result of a human picking them up or stepping on them, usually they will just silently slither away unnoticed. The bites from these snakes are extremely rare, and in most cases; there is a negligible reaction or only local effect (YPTE, 2018). 

These are largely important animals, they are a huge component of the food chain. They are responsible for keeping the prey animals population under control (mice, frogs, small birds as well as many more creatures). However, these also provide food for larger animals (predominantly birds including birds of prey). These are vitally responsible for maintaining a healthy balance between predator and prey. If the adder population keeps declining, there will be a massive increase in voles, mice and other prey animals (The Wildlife Trust, n.d.).

There has been a large amount of surveys done over 11 years, which have shown that 90% of adder populations were declining rapidly. If this continues, within the next 10-20 years they may become restricted to just a couple sights within the UK (Julian, 2019).

Their main cause of endangerment is habitat loss, through destruction and disturbance of their natural habitat.

If you are interested, follow - @adderinsights on Instagram!