Snake

[andibs]

I was out for a wee paddle today on the Chesterfield Canal and stopped at the Retford Boat Club to have the sarnie. Eyes were drawn to the other side of the canal where I saw a snake, about a foot long, merrily swimming parallel to the far bank.

Sun was reflecting off the water so couldn't really see colours but I wasn't half nipping on.

Am I correct in saying that there are only grass snakes and adders in the UK and as far as I am aware, adders don't habitats South Yorkshire, so it must have been the former.

Andy

 

[mountainm]

I've seen Adders in Derbyshire, but I'd bet it was a grass snake, seen a few swimming when I've been fishing.

 

[Harvestman]

Grass snakes are at least semi-aquatic, frogs being their main prey. Wouldn't be an adder.

There are smooth snakes in a few places, and one or two exotic species now breed in a few localities too, but yours would have been a small grass snake.

 

[markjohnlang]

Adders do swim although rarely! Much more likely to be a grass snake, did you see a whit/yellowish collar just behind the head? worth sending the location and time of the sighting to your local biological records centre