Snake in field - should I be worried?

[flyingfeet]

Deffo a grass snake as adders don't often exceed 60cm in length

If you look at this picture you can see the undersides are pale with patterns

Shame that it got mowed, but on the other hand you've made some frogs happy!

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

The easiest way to be sure you are safe (and so are the horses) is to remember that the other name for the adder, which is GBs only poisonous snake, is Viper.

It gets that name from the very very clear zigzag of continuous V shapes all the length of its body.

Even then it probably is a lot more scared of you than you of it but it's worth remembering.

 

[Vickijay]

Poor you!!! Thats horrible! Poor your OH more if your going to scare him with it!!!

I was poo picking my paddocks this morning (which are above knee height in grass after the rain) and I was thinking "I wonder if there could be snakes and I might tread on one" and now I see this thread!!!

Better get munching quickly horses!!!!

 

[rhino]

Yep, grass snake. This is an adder

 

[FabioandFreddy]

OMG - I'd be terrified if i thought there were snakes in our field! They scare the bejesus out of me!

 

[FionaM12]

OMG - I'd be terrified if i thought there were snakes in our field! They scare the bejesus out of me!

I'd be really excited. I found a slow worm near here a few years ago and was pretty thrilled by that!

 

[jinglejoys]

Isn't a slow worm a legless lizard?
Photo is the underside of a grass snake,used to find them regularly as a child and keep them as pets for a while.

 

[vhf]

Yes, a slow-worm IS a legless lizard, (as in, no legs, not too much cider...) but to a startled person coming across one when not expecting it, they look exactly like snakes. Their tails come off if mis-handled though, unlike snakes. We have about 20 in our garden under some slates we put down for them; sometimes adders pass through too.

 

[stencilface]

Ah, poor snakey I'd love to see them where I am

 

[Patterdale]

OMG after reading this today, I go home and outside the sheep pens, basking on the path was a snake! Looked like a baby grass snake!
It's v warm here and I've seen them a few times but what a coincidence after reading thus today!
I whipped my phone out for a photo but it slithered away really fast under some logs.

 

[FionaM12]

Yes, a slow-worm IS a legless lizard, (as in, no legs, not too much cider...)

They are quite unusual here in Lancashire, I think you get more of them down south. It's the only one I've ever spotted and I'm quite good at spotting and recognising wildlife.