I had done lots of research on the web as to where I might find adders during my short visit to london in June 2005. Most adder locations are kept fairly secret due to the threat of people finding out and going in and killing them. After a little research I had a reasonable idea of what type of habitat to find them in although only very rough ideas of their location...eg there are 4 populations in the Greater London area. My first day in London started out well by finding a couple of grass snakes. Walking along this busy road I stopped to ask a gardener who was cleaning up the road edges with a whipper snipper and picking up rubbish if he had ever seen any adders in the area.....No was his answer and he had grown up here. 80 metres further up the road with the gardner still in distant view... I saw my first adder....basking in a small patch of sunlight......well protected in amongst the blackberries......no more than 2 metres from the road as traffic rushed past. I was a brown sub-adult which slowly made its way for better cover as I dug out my camera! This wasn't the ideal habitat that I had read about but I was later to find an area which better fitted their requirements and with a small adder population. My first 24 hours in the UK and 2 species of snakes.......very happy!