Snakes in the UK?

Question

I live in southern England, not too far from London, and I am lucky enough to have a VERY large pond in my back garden. This morning I was hanging out the washing when a large snake just slithered across the path in front of me, and disappeared under one of the rocks near the pond! Now, of course, I thought it may be a grass snake (as we ALWAYS have these in the garden) but this snake was completely black (like 100%)...with just a small yellow line on top of its head! It was about 4 feet long, and was a VERY fast mover (much faster than a grass snake). Any ideas?

Answer 1

Could be an escaped pet!

If it's not an adder or a grass snake, maybe you should call the police to see if anyone's repoted a lost snake. Or the RSPCA, I'm not sure.

Answer 2

if the marking on the head look like a v shape then it could have been an adder also called a viper they are our only poisonous snake in Britain http://www.herpetofauna.co.uk/adder.htm or a slow worm   http://www.mickcoplen.com/slowworms/Slow... these are legless lizards and completely harmless but they can move fast if it was a slow worm you are extremely lucky as they are on the decline in Britain and are a protected species  but we also occasionally get a smooth snake http://www.wildlifebritain.com/thesmooth... but they are extremely rare so if you have one in your garden you are really lucky, sorry there are so many links but with out a picture we can't really tell but if it is none of these snakes then it must be a pet that has got loose and you should not try to touch it if you see it again best of luck honey hope you find out what the snake was.

Answer 3

Sounds like just another variation of Grass Snake. Is this the snake you saw?

http://www.oxfordshire-arg.org.uk/img/gr...

http://www.goringgapbc.org.uk/images/Gra...