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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Nature that has had a profound impact on human culture and society across history.

Nature that has got under our skin and profoundly impacted human culture and society across our history.

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Natural Histories: Adder

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Adder

BBC Radio 4 - Natural Histories, Adder

Brett Westwood goes in search of our only venomous snake, the adder.

The adder has inspired both fear and awe as Brett Westwood discovers when he traces our relationship with this much misunderstood, venomous and striking-looking secretive snake.

Holding what looks like a television aerial, reptile ecologist Nigel Hand strides across the heath. It may look something out of a science fiction movie, but as Nigel explains to Brett Westwood he is on a serious quest; searching for adders. These adders he has previously caught and fitted with tiny radio transmitters and the aerial is used to track and follow them as he learns more about the behaviour and habits of these much misunderstood snakes. Like Nigel, Brett Westwood has been fascinated by adders since he was a child and as he discovers they have long been the subject of myths and superstitions often attributed with powers of wisdom or a sly nature, giving rise to stories about their ability to hypnotise their prey and swallow their young. But as Brett discovers the truth about our only venomous snake is even more fascinating. 

Originally broadcast in a longer form 21st August 2018
Original Producer : Sarah Blunt.
Archive Producer : Andrew Dawes

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