Good Dutch smooth snake news

This is a smooth snake video.

The RAVON herpetologists in the Netherlands report that for the first time since fifty years, smooth snakes have been seen on the Sint Pietersberg mountain near Maastricht.

Compared to other Dutch provinces, there are amphibian species in Limburg which lack elsewhere. On the Sint Pietersberg are also wall lizards not found elsewhere in the Netherlands; and slow worms, which do occur elsewhere. However, there are not as many snakes as in other provinces. Only in the extreme east of Limburg there are a few smooth snakes and grass snakes. To which we can now add the Maastricht smooth snakes, which reproduce.

In three years the largest limestone quarry in the Netherlands, operated by the ENCI cement plant near Maastricht, will be closed. Large area of Mount St. Peter is already being transformed into an area for nature, biodiversity, ecosystem services and other public benefits. Can we expect red-backed shrikes to appear in the area, as an indicator of a functioning ecosystem? Here.

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