REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS IN EPPING FOREST 183
Adders were found, seven males, three females and one immature.
Area B, where Adders were first found late in the summer, contained
five, of which one was lying dead on a path, and one male and two
females were identified. Area C is known to contain six females, eight
males and one immature. Area D has six males, and five females. A
single female found near a path near Baldwins Hill was removed to
Area D. In 1958 therefore forty-three Adders were found in these
four areas, and considering that the observers could only have found
a proportion of those present, the total population must be quite
considerable. Records from earlier years from areas which were either
not searched in 1958, or when searched yielded nothing, are as follows;
one seen at Lords Bushes ca. 1952, but not since; two in July 1953 near
Monk Wood (D.S.); an area near Debden Green held one in 1957, but
more have been reported (A.C.W.); and a single snake near Lippits Hill
in 1956 (C.J.).
The discovery of a known population of this size contrasts strikingly
with published reports of the species. Fitter (1949), also quoted by
Smith (1951) reported it as "very rare north of the Thames", and "in
Epping Forest, where it was abundant at the turn of the century it has
become very scarce, but was seen in Monk Wood in 1936-38 (W. Steel).
Mr. A. Leutscher informs me that it still occurs in the drier parts of
the Forest north of Loughton, and that he re-introduced it in some parts
in 1947-48". Stubbs (1920) evidently regarded it as very rare in the
Forest and wrote, ". . . I think, their entire extinction is but a few years
distant". He recorded Adders near Theydon Bois in 1910, and "odd"
specimens since that date, and himself saw two in 1919 near Oak Hill
Farm (this seems to be the locality where one was seen in 1957), and
another in 1919.
It seems unlikely that the continued presence of this snake is entirely
the result of re-introduction to the area, as it occurs in so many widely
spaced areas, and in some abundance. Furthermore there is evidence
over the years that Adders have been present since Stubbs wrote, (vide
the record from Monk Wood in Fitter's paper, and our own notes from
pre-war, of Adders in a clearing in Monk Wood, and on the Furze
Ground and Broadstrood (J.D.), and on Baldwins Hill (G.M.)).
The areas in which we have found this snake all lie within the
northern part of the Forest. To some extent all have similar vegetational
features. Open plains, with the grasses Deschampsia cespitosa and the
purple moor grass (Molinia caerulea) in abundance, some rushes (Juncus
sp.) and occasional heaths. There is usually a variable growth of birch,
ranging from seedlings to thirty foot trees. One area (C) varies from
the usual in that it contains a moderate growth of bramble and haw-
thorn. It is difficult to reconcile these areas, which are usually sodden
with rain water, summer and winter alike, with the drier parts of the
Forest mentioned by other authors. Although we have not been able
to search the open spaces south of High Beech exhaustively, we have
made some attempt to do so, and on each occasion without success.
The only two records of which we are aware from this area are given