Not since our ancient ancestors, the druids, has the sacred ‘Nadder’, symbol of sun worship, enjoyed a cult status worthy of remembrance. Sadly, the demise of the Adder’s reputation has led to it being actively persecuted to the present day. A notable exception was the early-20th-century naturalist W H Hudson, a somewhat more ethically enlightened naturalist of the time, who, in his remarkable chapter Hints to Adder-Seekers (undated), discovered beauty in his ‘wild wormes of the woods’, albeit late in his career.
