to think I just saw an adder in our yard (UK)?

[Iloveautumn]

sorry for posting in this category, not sure where to post and am hoping someone on here will know about snakes. I have 3 small children and am panicking about them getting bitten.

I just saw a small black snake with a white or yellow v on its head or neck. It was about a foot long and approx 1cm wide.

We live in the east of england.

I have tried to look up photos of snakes and can't see one which looks like what I saw.

It's very unlikely to be an adder. More likely a grass snake (and certainly sounds like it from your description). We have a young one in our garden, they're quite common here (rural Oxfordshire). They're pretty shy and likely to hide when they hear anyone coming, so it's unlikely to stick around to bite anyone.

Adders are shy and live in heather and heathland. Unless you're very close to such am environment I don't think it would be am adder. I suppose it might be an escaped pet?

Try googling UK Grass snake I suspect that is what you have seen - classic V behind head.
Completely harmless.

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=www.bbc.co.uk/suffolk/content/images/2005/05/13/grass_snake_470_470x300.jpg&imgrefurl=www.bbc.co.uk/suffolk/content/image_galleries/stephen_dean_reptiles_gallery.shtml%3F4&usg=__Qool0_4aG7gAP6FxEh15MJGMA00=&h=300&w=470&sz=14&hl=en&start=8&zoom=1&tbnid=HMIC_KeIrjEWhM:&tbnh=82&tbnw=129&ei=8vlQTtv3Bs7E8QP0iPXHBw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dgrass%2Bsnake%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Grass snake possibly?

An adder has diamonds upon its back. And yep, they can be found in the East of England. Female is brown to the male's black and silver-grey colour.

Adders

But what you saw sounds more like a grass snake. (DIsclaimer, am not a snake person, just a nature lover).

ok, am now taking a deep sigh of relief!!!

yes, I think it was a grass snake - thank you for the photo link!!

I feel a bit silly now, but very relieved! Thank you, can let kids outside again now....

I thought grass snakes were big and green!

Adder and Grass Snake I was at school on the Suffolk coast and we used to see them (Adders) a lot.

There's a lot of variation in snake colours within a species - depending on the sex, stage of life etc.

Sounds like a grass snake, but we do get adders too (Also East of England).

I grew up in a very snaky area of the country, we just used to wear wellies all the time if we played out where they were likely to be.

thank you everyone for taking the time to reply. I'm pretty certain now that it was a grass snake, it just looked blacker - probably because I was at a distance.

It definitely didn't look like the photos of adders I've seen, I just got a bit scared because some descriptions said they can be black.

As you can probably tell, I'm not exactly at ease with nature!!!

Thanks again.

As Kurri says there is a lot of variation in colour with grass snakes. Ours is quite a light grey, but some are black, others more green.