Snakes: have you ever seen one in the wild, in the UK or anywhere else ?

[WildRosie]

I haven't so my contributions here will be limited. However, I find snakes fascinating creatures, even though they give me the creeps and I sometimes have nasty snake dreams. I'd love to see a grass snake catching some rays after laying her eggs in the spring, or an adder mellowing out among the heather. But I haven't yet. We don't get smooth snakes in Yorkshire so zero chance there. Please share your legless reptile stories. Slow worms don't count.

Dugits are common, seen a few
Tiger and brown ones can be added to the list, that I’ve seen wild. I live in Australia. Haven’t seen one yet this spring.
When I lived in the uk I saw an adder on dartmoor

But it's November!

Currently 14C outside (Midlands) and was 16C yesterday and 17C Monday.

Very mild. No idea what that might mean for wildlife - and I know we aren't out of Winter yet. But if we don't see any prolonged frosts - or frost at all - I do wonder what might be quite happily sliding, skipping, burrowing and buzzing around ???

@Rhinofeet

Any snake lovers know what this is? ~~hope the picture isn't too crap. I didn't want to get too close~~

Out for a lockdown walk with toddler and spotted it. I suspect grass snake. But it's November!

Not certain but I'd say a male adder.

True, true. It's extremely mild. 13c when I took this earlier this morning. It's surely having an impact on wildlife.

I've seen one in the New Forest and just gave me the creeps. I get scared of them and also scorpions. I saw a scorpion on my holiday in Greece in our holiday villa and I couldn't sleep for days, even writing this now has given me goosebumps.

My friends horse got bitten by an Adder and died :( haven’t actually seen one though.

@Pythonesque

I grew up in Australia, so we saw snakes in the bush not uncommonly. Once when I was about 9, we had a rare trip to the UK to see relatives, and the travel agent found us a deal with a stop over in Los Angeles to visit Disneyland and a couple of other places. The weekend before we left we'd been for a walk in the mountains just west of Sydney. One of the places we visited in LA had a reptile show. The guy taking it brought out a brown snake saying something like "now you'll never have seen one of these before" - and nearly fell over in shock when I and my younger sister piped up "oh we saw one on the path the other day".

The good thing about Australian snakes is that, although many are extremely poisonous, none of them are aggressive to human size creatures, they just want to be left alone and keep out of your way. So as long as you respect them, leave them alone, you can usually wait for them to move away if you come across them and no problems. You do have to keep alert, and think before walking through long grass and suchlike.

This reminds me of the truly excellent Bill Bryson book 'Down Under' where he was told that if he saw a snake he should stand very still and allow it to slither harmlessly over his feet and slither away. He said it sounded like the advice he was least likely to ever follow. :)

I would dearly love to see a grass snake in the UK. And my summers are MADE when I come across a slow worm.

@maryhadalittle

I've seen one in the New Forest and just gave me the creeps. I get scared of them and also scorpions. I saw a scorpion on my holiday in Greece in our holiday villa and I couldn't sleep for days, even writing this now has given me goosebumps.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euscorpius_flavicaudis

The native range of E. flavicaudis extends through Northwest Africa and Southern Europe, but it has also been accidentally introduced into the United Kingdom at Sheerness Dockyard on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent. The introduction is thought to have taken place in the early 19th century via a shipment of Italian masonry. The resulting colony, numbering 10,000 to 15,000 individuals in 2013, is the northernmost population of scorpions in the western hemisphere.[1]

I've seen a grass snake in the UK and a couple of slow worms in Germany.

I'm in an adder hotspot, and have seen a few. I've also seen grass snakes and slow worms locally, too.

I like snakes 🐍

We have scorpions in Britain??!? Why on earth did I have to see that. Kent. Must avoid Kent.

Ive been sleeping outside a lot last couple of weeks and it is ridiculously mild for this time of year, getting a real mix of wildlife out.

@MayYouLiveInInterestingTimes

We have scorpions in Britain??!? Why on earth did I have to see that. Kent. Must avoid Kent.

I have a vague memory of recently seeing a programme that found them in London - they tend to nest in cracks in mortar in walls.

Not too bothered with non-arachnid creepy crawlies so they wouldn't bother me too much. Especially as their sting is less viscous than a bee sting.

It remains a source of endless fascination how much nature we could be missing. Remember the best place to find a new species is your own back garden.

I've been lucky enough to see both added and grass snakes.

I saw a snake swimming along the edge of a river in Norfolk, and I saw a snake sunning itself in Cornwall. Very exciting both times!

I saw one basking on a hot farm track in Greece. I loved the way it slithered away - in a sort of elliptical figure of 8 shimmy.

It startled me but I wasn't scared - I like the concept of snakes. Mice though - ugh. I realise that is entirely irrational given their relative ability to harm me.

I have a fairly wild country park near me that I've visited umpteen times over the decades. It's much nicer in the spring and summer when there isn't much mud and the smell of decay and rotting leaves doesn't fill the air. It has a couple of ponds and streams and lots of woods - which make me wonder how many grass snakes I've walked past or stepped over without realising.