I expect many of you will have read the Countryside Alliance (CA) news email circulated by the chief executive, Tim Bonner, entitled “Pheasants, adders and the BBC” last month. There have been several media reports proclaiming that adders are in severe decline in the UK, mainly prompted by Nicholas Milton, the author of a book on the snakes. In an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the author suggested that “the release of 60 million pheasants that will kill adders” by UK game shoots was likely contributing to the decrease in the adder population.
While promoting his new publication, Mr
