I have recently recieved word that an area where I have some good memories has been turned into a quarry near to the city of Cartagena in Murcia, Spain. In March last year, in this small hillside area I caught a wonderful male Montpellier snake (Malpolon monspessulanus) of 180cm, the biggest I had caught to date. At the time there were signs of development but I did not feel it would be an immediate threat to the entire area, it seems I was wrong. Most snakes have an ability to survive in areas which have been developped radically, so hopefully the snakes and other wildlife present in the area have moved away from their regular territories due to the disturbance to the steeper parts of the hillside where further development is not possible. Here is a photo of the specimen just after I found it: