The Grass Snake

The kids love visiting Nanna and Grandad - they are very important to them. She only lives about 30 mins away but the trip is always an adventure, we head through miles of country lanes to reach our destination and have seen all manner of wildlife along the way. Grouse bustle into the bushes as the car approaches, squirrels fill the trees and acres of farmland straddles the view.

On arrival there are toys aplenty and fantastic soft drinks made with things like elderflowers. The boys love it and so do I.

A regular fixture of visiting Nanna and Grandad is a trip, on foot, through the semi-rural roads to visit the duck pond. We pass the honey man on our way - a very nice fellow who keeps bees and ferrets in his back garden and produces delicious honey on a regular basis. Try to support local efforts like this; so much better than buying Australian honey at the supermarket. The feathered inhabitants are normally ready for food and the extremely keen will exit the water under wing power in a desperate attempt to reach the prize.

We have found a number of interesting things en route - various fallen nuts and leaves, all manner of mini-beasts and once a dead shrew.

As we headed home after emptying the bag of bread Nanna suddenly cried out "quick a snake". I turned to find a tiny specimen winding its way across the dirt track. I quickly identified it as a  Grass Snake (Natrix natrix). Everyone was very excited - not just because we are fascinated by reptiles and have a pair of pythons at home - but because it is the first wild snake i have ever encountered in Britain. As children my brother and I would often catch common lizards and slow worms (a type of legless lizard) but never encountered a snake. It took me three decades to enjoy this moment but my boys have beaten the record by a considerable margin! It was special indeed.