Sightings have reached an all time high
Annette Belcher Digital Publishing Editor
14:16, 30 Sep 2025
The Devon Smooth Snake(Image: Roger Hamling)
Sightings of a rare species of snake have hit an all time high in Devon following its successful release into the wild.
In the Summer of 2009, a partnership project was launched to reintroduce non-venomous Smooth Snakes into parts of the UK where they hadn’t been recorded in 50 years.
The cause of their scarcity is due to the loss of their dry, lowland heathland homes.
Toby Taylor, RSPB Aylesbeare nature reserve Site Manager, said: “Once common across the UK, heathland is now a rare habitat. Over the last 200 years it has been converted into farmland, destroyed for housing, used for forestry or mineral extraction and today tragically less than 15% of this landscape remains.
“That’s why it’s vital that we work together to look after our heathlands and the wildlife that relies upon them.”
One of the special locations selected for the Smooth Snake reintroduction was the Pebblebed Heaths in East Devon, now recognised as a prestigious and protected National Nature Reserve (NNR). Together the RSPB with Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (Arc), and Pebblebed Heaths Conservation Trust released 17 shy Smooth Snakes onto this ancient landscape, relocated from Dorset & Hampshire.
The first few years after their release were challenging, with very cold winters and the ‘Beast from the East’ impacting heathland wildlife. However, since 2023 numbers have hit a high, with 31 sightings noted that year and 39 in 2024.
Photo collection of Smooth snake head-marking for individual identification(Image: Roger Hamling )
The RSPB and partners are thrilled that the East Devon population of Smooth Snakes is not only growing, with juveniles spotted, but it’s also expanding its range across the heaths thanks to the efforts of partner staff and volunteers across the wider NNR. And the Devon Smooth Snakes are wonderfully now a self-sustaining colony.
The success of the east Devon’s Smooth Snakes is the result of the tireless efforts of a dedicated team of RSPB volunteers who help staff to look after and manage the RSPB’s heathland sites, restoring the heathland to make it a healthy place for special heathland species to thrive. And then surveying and recording the results of these efforts each year.
Nick Moulton, ARC Reptile Conservation Officer, added: “Smooth Snakes are an RSPB and ARC Priority Species. We aim to reintroduce it to counties where it became lost, to restore its status towards favourable. The partners agreed that reintroduction to the Pebblebed Heaths NNR would be ideal as it is an exceptionally well managed heathland landscape and we would be able to restore the species to Devon. Crucial to this reintroduction is the dedication of RSPB’s trained and licenced volunteer surveyors. From their ongoing surveys we can confirm that the reintroduction has been a success (against IUCN guidelines); the animals are present, breeding and slowly colonising onto new areas of heath”.