Urbanisation, the disappearance or the repointing of old walls, the regression of wet zones and the filling in of ponds reduces the numbers of prey, notably for the grass snake. The use of pesticides and herbicides is also harmful to these animals in simplifying or getting rid of vegetation, in reducing the numbers of prey available or through the direct poisoning of the animals.

The reptiles, and more especially the snakes, are still regularly persecuted and deliberately killed, the victims of ignorance. The mechanised working of the land and close cropped mowing often cause accidental deaths. Thus ploughing, running machinery too close to the edges and the grinding down of vegetation on terrain not exploited for a certain period of time are disastrous.

Finally, the mass release of pheasants for hunting and the breeding of boar, known predators of our reptiles, contribute to the regression of their populations. In the areas around the villages it is the cats which too often kill slow worms, lizards and snakes.

How can they be protected?

It is difficult to see how the objectives of agricultural production can be compatible with the conservation of reptiles. Yet a few simple principles can get us there. In effect, narrow and marginal lands for production, which take up little space, are likely to host reptile populations as long as they are well sunlit and free of frequent disturbances. Moreover, paid five year contracts are available to farmers who wish to contribute to improving the environment.

The problem as far as the intensive grazing of grasslands is concerned is the lack of refuges for the reptiles. Setting up fences two metres back from the edges or the hedges enables the preservation of a non-grazing zone which also serve as shelter. The presence of ruins, small scree zones, piles of wood or haystacks in sunlit sites, ideally along border lands, also constitutes refuges for our lizards and snakes. Installing linear double fences in the middle of grasslands, with a space at least one metre wide which is neither mowed nor grazed, creates living spaces for reptiles as well as connecting zones between different populations. Maintaining or creating ponds is also favourable, notably for the grass snake. As far as mowing is concerned, it is necessary to privilege the hottest parts of the day, when the reptiles are the most active. Moving from the parcel’s interior to the exterior allows the animals to be ushered towards the non operated zone. Finally, it would be necessary to avoid the close cropped mowing which kills the reptiles and does away with their living areas.

Large scale farming zones, very unfavourable to reptiles, can be valorised, as is the case for grasslands, by the creation of sanctuary zones on the edges of the land parcels. These borders would form transition zones between other milieus such as groves, hedges or railway embankments. Between two parcels, the creation of strips of perennial herbaceous zones made up of unmown tall grasses established on a small hillock would also enable linking channels to be constituted.

Finally, re-exposing to the sun rocky habitats such as ruins, rocky embankments or overgrown scree zones would also enable new shelters to be created. Keeping some gaps or fissures during the restoration of old walls could also be valuable.

These adjustments are the subject of paid contracts between farmers and the Wallonia public services in the framework of the Walloon agro-environmental programme, whether it be for cultivated land, ‘grasslands of high biological value’ or ponds (Natura 2000 zones). It just remains for us to roll our sleeves up in order to conserve this so fragile fauna.