Christine's walking & birds blog

Greger went off for an exercise walk and I paid a visit to the Jubilee River, parking at Marsh Lane. At the same little gravel bay where I saw them last July I sat and watched a shoal of minnows.

I think the flowers next to me were Great Willowherb.

Somewhere in the depths of the willowherb, something was approaching with a slow, stealthy movement. I couldn't think what it could be but had little hope of actually seeing it. 

Then something dark appeared gliding through the undergrowth, and I took it for a large beetle. As more of it emerged I realised it was a grass snake. It was about two feet away and it must have heard or sensed me because it stopped, and flicked out its tongue several times before reversing out of sight.

Next time I saw it, the snake was swimming away upstream.