KRAG have been fortunate enough to receive £4000 of funding from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation to support an Anglo-French project with Conservatoire des Sites Naturels du Nord et du Pas-de-Calais to investigate habitat management in areas of chalk grasslands for adder (Vipera berus).

As well as comparing the relative merits of different methods of managing chalk grassland both here in Kent and in Northern France this project will also investigate the genetic links between English and French adders through DNA sampling.  This will enable us to make an assessment of how much adder populations have moved around and mixed since the formation of the English Channel.

Look out for more information about this project over the course of 2010.