A container ship terminal is being built in Wiltshire but first there were some residents that had to be relocated. The move of the adders, grass snakes, lizards and slow worms has been organized by the Swindon-based Environment Bank Limited. The relocation though was not a local one as Robert Gillespie the companies president said
“We would have preferred to have found a more local home for the reptiles, But in this instance these sites in Wiltshire were the only ones we could identify with an environment that is almost perfect from day one.”
One of the news homes for the animals was an old military base.
“The area of land links up four of the trust’s neighboring reserves including Clattinger Farm, Oaksey Moor Farm Meadow, Swillbrook Lakes and Sandpool Farm,” said Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s Magz Knight.
“Before any translocation is done the receptor sites are checked because obviously you don’t want to bring a load of new reptiles in if there’s already a population there that is the maximum amount you should have for that kind of habitat.”
About 690 snakes, 17,000 lizards and 6,000 slow worms were collected by hand and relocated.
Mr Gillespie said they still have another 3 years of monitoring the animals to do but so far its been a great success.