Tizmy - Chris Hardy's Memories

Welsh snakes

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By Chris Hardy
27th March 2006 - 5th April 2006

I like to go sea fishing in North Wales with my friends as much as possible during the summer. One of our favourite marks is at the bottom of a cliff in Uwchmynydd, near Aberdaron on the Lleyn Peninsula.

After a trip at the end of March we were turning round to set off down the road when we saw something unusual lying in the grass beside the car. We stopped and were pretty surprised to see a snake sunbathing right in front of us!

In true Steve Irwin style, we carefully pulled the snake away from it's hiding hole and I took a few pictures of it. After getting back and looking at the pictures we realised that this wasn't your everyday run-of-the-mill grass snake.

I emailed the pictures to a local wildlife enthusiast who confirmed what we suspected, that it was actually Britain's only poisonous snake... the Adder.

This was apparently a very, very rare find. The adder was a female, about 60cm long, which is about as big as they grow.

It had likely just come out of hibernation, which is why it was so docile. If it was later in the year and the snake's body temperature was higher, it's likely we would have been bitten, although it probably would have hidden before we had a chance to get near it.

I might not have got so close with the camera if I'd realised at the time, but I'm glad I got a few good pictures.

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