First Grass Snake of the year (pic heavy)

[resnikov]

Out on a bit of walk with wife, kids and my mum and on the way back to the car we found a grass snake, well I think it is.

It was sunning itself on the road. As we stopped to a take a photo or two it slithered off in to the undergrowth.

Managed to get a video of it moving off. Was impressed at how quick it moved.

[video=youtube;FRbRSgpztsE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRbRSgpztsE[/video]

My girls were very impressed with seeing the snake, the have never seen one in the wild before.
We had my mum's boarder terrier with us who didn't even notice the snake just walked past it and carried on whilst we stopped and took the pics.

 

[HHazeldean]

Beautiful pics. It is definitely a grass snake and looks quite bug as well. I am surprised to see them out at this time. We had hundreds around us and I have managed to get some lovely photos too.

 

[Chambers]

Fantastic, Ive never seen one at all myself in the wild or an Adder for that matter either

 

[Shewie]

Nice piccies mate, if that'd been me and the mrs I'd have had to carry her back to the car on my shoulders.

 

[JonathanD]

Beautiful pics. It is definitely a grass snake and looks quite bug as well. I am surprised to see them out at this time. We had hundreds around us and I have managed to get some lovely photos too.

Our reptiles have been out and about since the first week in February.

 

[HHazeldean]

Our reptiles have been out and about since the first week in February.

Really? I haven't seen any yet, that is annoying.

 

[JonathanD]

Really? I haven't seen any yet, that is annoying.

Yeah, they have been up for weeks now. Mating is taking place in the South already.

 

[resnikov]

Jonathan can you tell if the one I saw large or small and can you tell if its a male or female?

Just curios about it.

 

[morch]

Great pics, cheers

Dave

 

[JonathanD]

Jonathan can you tell if the one I saw large or small and can you tell if its a male or female?

Just curios about it.

Looks like a male about two/three years old. Not particularly large as it hasn't reached full adulthood yet.

 

[resnikov]

Looks like a male about two/three years old. Not particularly large as it hasn't reached full adulthood yet.

Cheers for that. How old is full adulthood and how old do they live for?

 

[mountainm]

Nice one - sometimes they swim past when I'm fishing but not seen one for ages...

 

[Barn Owl]

Cracking pics.

 

[JonathanD]

Cheers for that. How old is full adulthood and how old do they live for?

They have been recorded living for 30+ years, but the average is way below that and dropping (seven years). Full sexually maturity is reached at around three or four years. They can grew up to two metres long if females, while males are smaller. Average is about 120 to 150cm though.

 

[resnikov]

They have been recorded living for 30+ years, but the average is way below that and dropping (seven years). Full sexually maturity is reached at around three or four years. They can grew up to two metres long if females, while males are smaller. Average is about 120 to 150cm though.

Cheers for that.

 

[mountainm]

They have been recorded living for 30+ years, but the average is way below that and dropping (seven years). Full sexually maturity is reached at around three or four years. They can grew up to two metres long if females, while males are smaller. Average is about 120 to 150cm though.

Whilst we've got you JD - my Oldest wanted to know if there are any venomous creatures in the UK besides the Adder - I couldn't think of any (sure there may be some spiders that don't harm us etc.) any you can think of?

Ta

M

 

[JonathanD]

Whilst we've got you JD - my Oldest wanted to know if there are any venomous creatures in the UK besides the Adder - I couldn't think of any (sure there may be some spiders that don't harm us etc.) any you can think of?

Ta

M

All spiders are venomous and there are colonies of Black widows and Brown recluse existing quite succesfully within the UK. Native House spiders can give a nasty bite to us, as well as the other larger species. There are also non native scorpions doing quite well down south. As for other native species, we obviously have wasps, bees etc and there are a few marine animals that can give nasty stings.

Harvestman is the person who can expand on the entomological side of things.

 

[mountainm]

All spiders are venomous and there are colonies of Black widows and Brown recluse existing quite succesfully within the UK. Native House spiders can give a nasty bite to us, as well as the other larger species. There are also non native scorpions doing quite well down south. As for other native species, we obviously have wasps, bees etc and there are a few marine animals that can give nasty stings.

Harvestman is the person who can expand on the entomological side of things.

Thanks - I had no idea we had black widows and recluses over here. I knew about the scorpions - think they live on a dockside somewhere...

 

[JonathanD]

Thanks - I had no idea we had black widows and recluses over here. I knew about the scorpions - think they live on a dockside somewhere...

Yeah, there is a prominent wall down there that has had a colony for a couple of decades. The false widow seems to have the greatest dispersion and stronghold in the UK at the moment. Brown recluses look like any other drab brown spider, so sightings are rare unless the person who saw it knows their stuff.

 

[WeThePeoplexfbm]

cute ^^ i only seen Red belly black snake this year -_- no brown snakes gotta love it here so much deady snakes XD wonder if we has grass snakes? maby


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Skipp