Reptile Habitat Guide This photo-guide is intended to serve as a reference aid for NARRS surveyors participating in the National Reptile Survey. Key things to consider when assessing habitat suitability for reptiles: • Vegetation structure – ideal reptile habitat has a variable structure with a mixture of vegetation heights, tangled or thorny areas, mosaics, bare patches, lots of edges (‘ecotones’) and good basking places. • Extent – must be big enough area to support a population. Small habitat patches can be sufficient for lizards, whereas snakes need larger areas (although grass snakes can cross unsuitable habitat). • Aspect – sunny, sheltered locations, unshaded, south-facing • Topography - undulating topography, banks, hummocks, hollows, south-facing slopes; generally not north-facing slopes. • Connectivity – essential to allow colonisation when habitat is created, and recolonisation after local extinctions. For example, if an area of good habitat is surrounded by intensive arable farmland, reptiles might not be able to colonise it. • History – habitat that has been recently created might look deceptively good, but it takes time for reptiles to colonise, and there must be connectivity with neighbouring areas where they are present. Reptiles are most widely distributed on large areas of habitat such as heathland, moorland, rough grassland, and sand dunes, but they are often present locally in a range of other land covers. Ideal land covers may include railways and disused railway lines, roadside embankments and verges, churchyards/cemeteries, allotments, derelict/brownfield areas, neglected/overgrown land, rough pasture, scrubland, quarries, ‘wasteland’, woodland glades and forest rides. Localised features and the right vegetation structure are important. Look out for are areas of scrub, long grass, tussocky grass, gorse, bramble, dense herbage, canal and riverbanks, undulating topography, banks, hollows, varied height structure, uneven edges, vegetation mosaics, brash piles, log piles, manure/compost heaps, rubble/rubbish, footpath and track edges, field edges, hedgerows, boundary banks, stone walls, moss/lichen patches, bare ground patches. (Always keep health and safety in mind when surveying. Take particular care on roadsides and uneven ground, and do not enter railway land). The following pages show some examples of good reptile habitat. Photos by Jon Cranfield & Chris Gleed-Owen. Compiled by The Herpetological Conservation Trust, with financial support from Natural England. © The HCT 2007