Identifying a snake

[peekay74]

Can anyone help identify this snake, found it swimming around in pond. I thought it was a grass snake but someone else thought it was an Adder - anyone able to identify?
Thanks in advance

[aazer89]

That is a grass snake, can tell by the small black markings on the sides. Adders have diamond shaped markings down the middle of their backs

[Equus]

aazer89 said:

That is a grass snake, can tell by the small black markings on the sides.

An even bigger giveaway is the yellow 'collar' markings that grass snakes have.

[yellowjack]

Definitely a grass snake with that 'collar'.

Only two other snakes native here. Adder and Smooth snake, both superficially similar, but the Smooth snake has a round pupil and the Adder a vertical pupil in the eye. Smooth snakes also VERY localised to Surrey/Hampshire Dorset and like sandy heathland with lizards to eat. Adders less discerning with prey, and will bite readily if they feel threatened. Grass snake also the most likely species to be spotted in water. They prefer wet areas near ponds or rivers, with plenty of tree cover, where Adders and Smooth snakes tend to be seen in dry areas with heather and gorse rather than trees for cover.

I'd say you're lucky to see one, even luckier to have one "on the premises". I've only seen one snake this year, a juvenile Adder which had a 'nip' at me when I very nearly ran over it when mountain biking (I thought it was a stick at first). Had another Adder take a lunge at me cycling out of an army barracks. Early evening, it was basking on the hot tarmac, and I mistook it for a piece of door seal. Kept my line and because it was a road bie swerved around the 'discarded seal' at the last moment, only to have it strike out at me. But like I say, in both instances they felt threatened, and as soon I was no longer an immediate threat they slithered off into cover.

My best snake encounter (in the UK) was a near 5 ft long (basically as big as they come) female Grass Snake trying to cross a road to get to a ditch in the opposite verge. I waved several cars to slow down and stop and they thought I was mad trying to ensure this magnificent creature survived the road crossing. See quite a few grass snakes and adders squashed flat on the roads while out cycling and always feel uncomfortable about the impact we humans can have on local wildlife...

Grass Snake - https://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/gbw/gardens-...

Adder - https://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/gbw/gardens-...

Smooth Snake - https://www.surreywildlifetrust.org/wildlife-explo...

Edited by yellowjack on Monday 30th July 17:58

[peekay74]

Thanks for Input all, not sure if I am right to be but feel relieved it’s a grass snake and not an adder. Whatever it was it has now gone, but where ....

[yellowjack]

peekay74 said:

Thanks for Input all, not sure if I am right to be but feel relieved it’s a grass snake and not an adder. Whatever it was it has now gone, but where ....

Be relieved. It's the largest, yet least dangerous British snake. It will "strike" if threatened, and can bite, but usually it strikes closed-mouthed just to try to look scary. It's other trick is to literally "play dead". If playing dead fails, it's final protection mechanism is to emit a foul smell from a vent. It's meant to make predators think it's rotten, and so avoid eating it.

As for where it is? They can cover a lot of ground. They like grass (obviously) and water (it's "aka's" are the water snake, or ringed snake). Moisture is good for them, as is somewhere warm to lay eggs. That might be a compost heap, a farmer's manure pile, naturally occurring piles of rotting leaves, etc. They eat frogs, toads, newts, etc, as well as small rodents, and fish and birds if they can get them.

They're really beautiful creatures, and shouldn't be harmed or handled. Grass snakes are protected by law in Great Britain. It is illegal to deliberately kill, injure or sell grass snakes. (The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981: Schedule 5)

I had to retrieve a number of juvenile grass snakes from a metal storage cupboard out the back of a shop once. The ladies in the shop wanted them killed, the poor snakes (about the size of a pencil at the time) had just suffered the misfortune of hatching in the wrong place. They were bagged and moved to a more suitable habitat just outside the barracks fence.



https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/07/new-sn...