The UKs BIGGEST SNAKE!
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- Опубликовано: 14 окт 2024
- In this video we catch and survey Grass snakes at Watermill Broad Nature Reserve. Then we take a closer look at some pedomorph smooth newts that have taken up residence in an abandoned swimming pool.
If you want to learn more about Steves work, heres a link to his website: stevenallain.co...
Music from filmmusic.io
"White" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
"Windswept" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
"Porch Swing Days - slower" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
"Midnight Tale" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (creativecommons...)
If you have just enjoyed watching this video then be sure to check out my latest video, taking a look at the European Water Vole: ruclips.net/video/T0Y2aHoEGbM/видео.html
Use to have all the snakes and lizards here when I was a kid, even the rare smooth snake, some of the grass snakes that did not live anywhere near water got very big where they were feeding on rodents
Wonderful kindness and generosity must confess personally lm very frightened of snakes but intrigued this video has helped me to dispel my unfounded fears thank you
We have grass snakes here on the farm in Somerset and occasionally they they cause absolute panic amongst the holiday makers😂 😂
Had many a lovely holiday in Somerset
Lol BLOODY Townies 😂g
Ha, I live in Somerset too
BLOODY Townies !!!😂LOL The ADDER Is DARKER Fatter And ONLY Bites If You Tread on it I BET You Laugh When Run Screaming !!!😂😂😂😂IVE Seen It 😁g
Even after i finished geography somerset still haunts me
I love that we still have snakes in this country and how often they can be amongst us whilst we are out and we have no idea. Beautiful animals.
I have seen grass snakes of three to four feet in length on many occasions, nothing unusual. But whilst out moving snakes from a potential building site close to Portsmouth four years ago (as part of a contract to move vulnerable wildlife) I came upon an absolute brute. I had already been told of her existence underneath a plastic sheet by a fellow employee. He does not like snakes much, but will grab and relocate smaller specimens.
I reached the plastic sheet and threw it back to see if the snake was underneath. What I saw I could not believe! In fact I did a double take in that I thought, 'That CANNOT be a grass snake', not at that size! She was coiled up and the head was not visible, but when she uncoiled to move off it was clear that she was the largest snake I had ever seen in the wild.
She had a girth of about 4-5 inches, and was at least six feet in length! She shot away to the nearby waterway before I could react. I did think afterwards that had I in fact caught her I had nothing sufficiently large to contain her in. She would have been impossible to keep in anything but a large sack, and all I had was a deep plastic container. Try as I might I never saw her again.
I just hope she reached safety.
They're that length on the farms in Northumberland
Vulnerable wildlife.... And there's a picture of a cat. Estimated 275-million small animals and birds tortured to death in the U.K. Toxoplasma Gondii (Most PROLIFIC parasite known to mankind) linked with mental illnesses, anxiety, road-rage, risk-taking and all sorts of other lovely things. If cats spread Toxo... Cat-owners are traitors to their own species.
Awesome 🙂
There is another snake breed in the UK, its called the escalapien snake. It's bigger than the grass snake, up to 6 ft. Look it up
Thanks for these short videos. I've watched a few now and thoroughly been enjoying learning and finding out more about our native (and not) species in the UK.
Cheers for the video. I've read through the comments and I can't believe how many people have commented on the refuge pronunciation, and how patient you have been to reply to them all! 😄
A lot of people correct my pronunciation of Three and Free which I'd fair enough, I cannot hear nor pronounce a difference between the two. However, with refugia, I was pretty sure I was right lol.
I'm glad you enjoyed the video!
@@AShotOfWildlife I used to do that until I started at a drama class and the teacher cured me of it 🤭
But yeah, pay no attention to people, you have good content which is the important thing 👍
Really great informative video. By accident I disturbed a grass a few days ago while in my small garden - it was trying to eat a fully grown toad alive. The toad was inflating itself to try and stop the snake. I couldn't believe the sanke was a big enough specimen to swallow it but when I had another look the next day it was in almost the same spot and had almost finished swallowing the toad. The toad was at least double the width of the snake's head.
What handsome snakes. Thank you for uploading and sharing your day's work with us.
Thank you, I am glad you enjoyed the video :)
I have seen several slow worms, common and sand lizards (which I see in my garden) but only one grass snake (which was in the river - popped his head up to look at us and then swan to the other bank). Really cool animals.
Superb, never seen one. It's on my bucket list, great upload. Thanks!
I used to go looking for grass snakes, slow worms and adders growing up in Suffolk. Grass snakes were really common and got big! One year we had a huge one got stuck in my little brother’s paddling pool. It was a good 4 centimetres wide and about 3 to 4 feet long - although it was a long time ago and memory can be funny. It was definitely well over half the width of the paddling pool. Good to see them still doing well.
Adders aren’t so bad, when my husband was younger he caught one and had it round his neck thinking it was a grass snake. The snake took this with no aggression or even any attempt to bite.
lucky man
That video of UK snakes was utterly intriguing! And those little newt paedomorphs towards the end almost look like axolotls, to which I'm assuming they are related.
Great video! I see a lot of Grass snakes when I'm out doing wildlife photography, some the length of a pencil and some very large ones. The biggest had a body as thick as my wrist! Must have been 3ft long at least! See them swimming a lot too. There's one spot on my local reserve and there were 3 basking within inches of each other, 2 small and 1 larger. Lovely things.
Thank you! Yes unfortunately we didnt find any fully grown snakes this time but as the season is now coming to an end I think the next snake survey will be in the Springtime. I might try to find some adders too.
When we grew up in the 60s and 70s in Berkshire there were grass snakes all over the place. Absolutely beautiful. Our grandparents lived in Clacton and there were adders everywhere. I think the place where we saw all the adders is now a caravan park.
Great and interesting film but I must admit that snakes are not my favourite animal...even though these ones are harmless.
Thanks for sharing and have a great week!
Always great films and good information
I always believed that vipers (adders) we’re larger than grass snakes. They’re beautiful and docile, as small boys we’d delight in scaring the girls when we found one.
I love grass snakes ! just look at these puppy innocent eyes ! and this head so round and smooth ! Add this to the fact that it's completely harmless (it's best ways to deal with predators include playing dead (and stink), or acting like a viper in order to scare said predator away), and you've got the best legless buddy ever !
Haven’t seen a newt since I was a kid used to see them all the time but not anymore and maybe they are having problems coz they can’t get out of the swimming pool as it not natural for them. Great video Liam.
See a lot of them in the gower peninsular in Swansea, love them and adders, you have an interesting way of saying “refuges” though 😂🤔
A few people have said that. I still have no idea on the correct way of saying it lol.
I too kept thinking, what a weird pronunciation of 'refuges' - never heard anyone say it like that ! LOL 😊 🇬🇧
@@stewedfishproductions7959 ive found the answer. The word I was saying isn't refuge, it is refugia lol.
@@AShotOfWildlife - Apologise for my comment, I could have sworn you were saying refuges. I had to go and look up refugia (because I had never heard of that word). The plural of 'refugium' -you learn something new each day - LOL !
@@stewedfishproductions7959 no worries. I had to go back through the video before I realised the mix up lol.
Nice video. Only seen Grass Snakes one at a nest and sadly it was being predated by a Buzzard. I have had the pleasure of seeing many Adders in the wild.
You’re quite lucky to have seen adders in the wild, most people have seen grass snakes but not adders. I am hoping to do a video on them this year but haven’t managed to film any yet.
Cheers, I’m glad you enjoyed the video.
I’ve seen the same buzzard carrying 3 grass snakes back to the nest in the last month!
I was walking the South West Coast Path in Cornwall and an adder slithered across in front of me.
I recognised it as an adder as I had previously seen adders in the mountains of Spain outside Valencia - I was so happy to have seen it.
I then told a couple I soon passed about the adder and they looked at me with fear and seemed unwilling to walk past that particular part of the path.
People are unnecessarily frightened of snakes which are beautiful creatures.
Yes especially the Australian taipan lol
Grass snakes are quite common around Birmingham and even in the suburbs on wasteland where there are old ditches. You see them along the urban canals too
The excitement when I read the title of this video. I was expecting a ferocious man eating reptile.
hahaha, not in this country (un)fortunately.
The frog : NAAHHHH FAM leave me alone I dont wanna be picked up . The snake: Zzzzzzzzzzz
😂
Can you do slow worms please? I have loads in my back garden!
That was fascinating Liam and Steve. great job.
Actually Zamensis longissimus is the largest snake in UK. There is a thriving population that breeds on its own.
Actually Zamensis longissimus isn’t a native of the UK, which is why it wasn’t considered, therefore Natrix natrix remains the largest snake in the UK.
Wonderfull video about researching Herpetologists! Thanks a lot!
LOL I remember when my brother found a grass snake and he let it run free in his bedroom.
I went up to look and it was an Adder not a Grass snake.
Anyway, just for anyone who may want to know, Adders do bite and they have venom, but it should not kill you.
My brother got bit and he felt iffy but he was just fine.
We think it was something like 2 and a half feet long, but we never measured it.
Last adder bite death was 1975 in the Trossachs area of Scotland.
You brother was bitten, not bit!
@@maconescotland8996 Ugh poor snake biting a miserable Scottish thing
@NattieChristopher Thank you 🤩
@@MsBettyboo01 The boy died in hospital shortly after - what sort of moron would make such a crass statement about a child's death ? Apart from you, obviously.
Thought the video was going to be about the UK Government, with the title?.
I have never seen a snake in the wild in the UK.
Great video Thanks
Happy memories of catching lizards when l was a kid in the '60,s . Still find slow worms in my garden but have,nt seen a lizard in years . Never seen a grass snake or adder unfortunatly . Sad these lovely reptiles are,nt as common as they used to be in my day . A nice video by the way .
Those grass snakes are so placid.
Scotland doesn't have grass snakes, it's too bloody cold for them.
Perhaps those newts have retained their juvenile gills because they were unable to climb out of the pool, so they have adapted/adjusted to an obligatory aquatic existence? If so this is a very interesting example of developmental plasticity.
people just need to realize that snakes are armless!
it's lockdown, so I'm gonna tell bad snake jokes!
There not bad
Nice to be with you, you do great ... show the wildlife! I wish you good luck and be careful. A hug
i used to catch these when i was a kid in the 50s and 60s.they were common in s e essex.
A few weeks ago I lifted the cover from my compost heap and was surprised and shocked by the size of the snake underneath. It was about the same diameter as a cucumber and it was about five foot long. The bit that really surprised me was that it did not have any pattern at all and it was just a bright shiny green colour. I assumed that it was a grass snake?
Was that anywhere in Europe? If so, I think you should contact your local wildlife centre.
To aide you in your research could you get a clear plastic tube to make measuring more accurate. Like they use on venomous snakes.
These look much like ringneck snakes in the US. Perfectly harmless and beautiful.
I believe they're related (as are garter snakes?).
can you recommend any locations to go looking for snakes and reptiles that the public can visit. i live in cringleford norwich and was wondering if there were and localish places
You should come down to dorset when I work on a nature reserve. We have loads of grass snakes, adders and apparently one of the highest population of sand lizards.
Here in south Essex there were lots and lots of slow worms living in my compost bins. Close by me there are warnings of adders in one of our country parks and incidentally a dog got bitten by one just a few days ago. When I was a child we had a fish pond in the garden that would occasionally overflow into a depression in the garden, here there was an enormous snake, it was a lovely shade of bluey green. I don't know if it was a variation of a grass snake of a smooth snake. Based on the pictures I have seen it was neither. I haven't seen any snakes in the wild for years.
I really think it's because the pool is difficult to get out of fo the newts. Try rigging up something that they can crawl on that bridges between the pool and land and I think they will all leave.
Brilliant. I miss England.
coming from Australia, I have to say gentleman that that would not be considered a bonefide a snake at all. A legless lizard perhaps?
You wait until you see our spiders....
Slow worm is our legless lizard
My Aunt lives close to a waterway and, a couple of years ago, had a large grass snake in her garden several times.
Thankyou for sharing.
Thanks for the video
It's important to educate people about snakes which have an important role in our various ecosystems.
For me it's rather amusing being used to removing Snouted Cobras and Brown House Snakes from my house and surrounds.
As an lay herp, I'm vary careful and prefer not to handle them for fear of hurting them or being envenomated, particularly by Puff Adders or Boomslang. They can spoil one's weekend plans!
Our Grass Snake species are very fast and extremely difficult to catch.
However interesting to see UK snakes as I've recently started living here.
I know what a refuge is but what's a refujah ? Great - informative video .
Cheers. It's spelled refugia and is essentially a man made refuge for reptiles.
I've only seen Grass Snakes a few times. Once I was lifting plastic that had been used to get fruit trees established. There was a big, about 3 foot long, one which I grabbed by the neck to have a look at. It thrashed its body around, covering me with a horrible smelling yellowish fluid. Its main defence. It didn't wash off in puddle water (I was out in the fields) and I had to wait hours to get to soap to get it off. I don't know if they have a special gland or if they just void their digestive tract. Maybe someone here could tell me. I always thought the maximum length was 4 feet and reports of 6 footers were unreliable but a couple of people here say they have seen them.
I have more chance of winning the lottery than finding any snakes where I live.
Finding some adders would be amazing if you could do a documentary on them.
Adders are on my list for future videos. I haven't been able to find any yet either though.
@@AShotOfWildlife Yes they are quite rare, the newts at the end where amazing, I haven't seen any since I was a young lad. But the retained gills is adaption at its finest.
I wish you all the best in your adder search as a run down on this species with a live specimen is a dream to wish for.
I am surprised that there isn't some kind of Beeding project for our very rare native species of reptiles, they do seem to do this in other coj tries to boost the numbers up.
I love Snakes doesn't matter what kind just love Snakes
Lovely little snakes. I'm sure though I read an article somewhere saying that a rat snake (4-6 foot fully grown) that has been extinct in Britain is now living in Wales following an escape from a zoo after being imported back in the 1960's.
Yes, you are talking about aescelupian snakes. There's also a population of them in regents Park. I should have really said the biggest "native" snake. I think the jury is currently out on whether aescelupian snakes were actually present in the UK with most literature stating they were not.
@@AShotOfWildlife Haha yes that's 'em. I wish people wouldn't write things as fact that cannot be corroborated. Thanks for the reply
I live where Rat Snakes are common (Malaysia) and they get pretty big, often see them when I am out hiking.
THEY Were BLOODY Long And MUST Have Been OLD !!! At That Size ???MADE Me JUMP 😂g
We have cute little snakes living in our suburban Sydney garden, They are delightfully called Red-bellied Black Snakes, are about 1.5 - 2m long, are a shy snake and will generally only deliver a serious bite under severe molestation. Mind you, the bite can be fatal.
Many years ago while flying our hang glider s from bossingtonndown at Minehead. We saw a snake of over three feet in length, I had the markings of a grass snake. We could not capture it and assumed it got so big as it has no predictors up on the Moors
Could the reason why the newts had retained their gills be that there doesn't appear to bea way of climbing out of the pool?
If I had to guess as to why the Newts haven't grown into their final adult forms I would go for the pool having high zinc levels, as that can affect some tadpoles/efts development and keep them in their juvenile state for years, or stop them becoming adults permanently.
I used to find grass snakes in Kent UK circa 1950's, mostly they were only between 30 to 40 cm in length. I guess I was in the 7 to 11 yr old age group. Ahh the memories.
I saw a big 3 footer going across the canal path not long ago, it was practically black which is interesting.
Used to get them in our garden in west Kent quite regularly. Found a beauty well over 4ft under a tin bucket once. It wasn't pleased & bit my dad on the ball of his thumb
Maybe the newts are stuck in the pool so can't develop. Throw a plank in and let them escape, their gills should disappear then.
There is a plank at one end for them to get out on. I'm.dure they could climb the sides as well to be fair.
I often see grass-snakes when I sit by the river fishing
Another excellent and very interesting offering. Had to chuckle at the "Ninja-like reflexes and longer-than-average arms" LOL. Hope you're still friends :-)
I'd only recently first heard about pedomorph newts, but I do like Steven's use of the term "Peter Pan newts". Great stuff.
Hi! Thank you very much, I am glad you enjoyed the video. Where did you hear about pedomorph newts?
@@AShotOfWildlife One of the members of the nature photography group I go to is Neil Phillips (UK Wildlife Videos on FB) aka "Pond Man". He showed a photo of a pedomorph newt at one of our recent meetings :-)
@@NaturallyCuriousUK I thought that might have been the case. He got them newts from this pool. In the video when I say that one of the newts when kept in a tank metamorphed, that was in Neils tank.
@@AShotOfWildlife Hi, can the newts get out of the swimming pool if they wanted to ?
I had always believed the Adder was longer but it's the Grass-Snake, now I know better 👍
The Cornish ones can be huge, dont think anyone dare measure them.
@@markpaul1154 hi Mark Paul, are you referring to the Cornish Adders ?
@@JohnnysCafe_ Yes, have seen them way over 3 feet in east cornwall.
@@markpaul1154 over 3 feet is when you are getting in the big snake range and the adders are a broad snake with that diamond markings so it must be an impressive sight.
Ahahaha I clicked on this expecting to be hearing about old Boris but no ahahah it is actualllyyyy about snakes ahahahah
Great video! How long would the process of shedding take?
This depends on a few things including the weather, size of the snake and the health of the snake but usually takes about a week to 10 days from the eyes going cloudy to the skin shedding.
So is there no black adder in the UK?
I assumed there was due to the series.
Great work gents.
I see them all the time where I work, sometimes I see adders and grass snakes together
Where’s this ??
As an Australian I mean no insults but I started laughing at the size.
As a fellow Aussie, I can assure you that snakes aren't born six feet long.
@@tahlawilliams9928 confused here!!! Who asserted that anyway??? Are you a bored lame troll???
What an amazing day you had. I'd love to find some grass snakes!
Its getting a bit late in the year but I would like to film adders in spring, maybe we could do that one together?
Nice Video I never knew that place was there and I live close by and the pool I remember swimming in it many years ago
You need a good cleanse mate if you swam in that lol!
They don’t appear to be bitey or mouthy snakes, not like our garter snakes in the USA. Thanks for sharing!
You did not mention that a grass snake can grow to 6-ft and rear 2/3 of its body straight up off the ground. So if you see a head the size of a man's fist peering at you out of a reed bed 4-ft off the ground, it's a grass snake.
The do need to remain undisturbed to grow that size, with a plentiful supply of fish and frogs.
I forgot we could get snakes in our country. My dad did say a while ago that he remembers finding snakes in a field next to the house he grew up in
Have come across a large angry Adder in Lancashire,I 💩 myself,didn't know we had them up here! I wont even walk through there now🤣
I can't abide snakes, but your film was fascinating. Thank you.
Cheers
Cool video, you found a lot of snakes! :)
Thanks Amy :)
How do the adult newts escape the raised pool sides?
Er, have you missed something? The Adder for instance? I think it's a wee bit bigger and could have a hissy fit being in second place!
Full grown grass snakes are at least twice the length of a full grown adder.
Iv seen several over 5 foot one i remember was trying to swallow a full sized frog!
I have never heard the word refuge pronounce so strangely and in So Many Ways
Superb video
Thank you
If the yearlings swab comes back positive for any disease how will you find it again?
If they tested positive there wasn't any plans to catch and treat them. It was more of a study to see if and how prevalent the infection was.
I have a King Cobra in my garden.
I love Thailand.
How have I got into my 40’s and only ever seen 2 snakes in the uk? I’m no stranger to the wilderness either!
The first I saw back around 1992, I was about 20’ away from it and could only see that it was dark in colour but it was huge! About 5’ in length and as thick as a snooker cue (bottom half thick part) it slithered into an outside building never to be seen again.
The second in 2017 was definitely an Adder, coiled up in the road. It was dead and had been run over by a car ☹️ probably about 2’ in length and 1/2” diameter.
Normal large size female grass snake, They have been known to get even bigger, there are 2 kinds of Grass snakes in the UK now, barbed Grass snake and the ring grass snake, all snakes will grow accorded to what they feed on, the ones that feed on mice and rats and other rodents can grow to over 6 foot, just as big as the Rat snake that is in the UK now
@@southerneruk nice one thanks, would love to see one again in the wild.
I saw pure black squirrels when I was last down Bedfordshire! Have you seen them, where did they come from?
@@TheMuddatrucker They have animals escaping from the local Woburn safari park. They've got wallabies in the wild there too
@@TheMuddatrucker I have heard about those black squirrels, never have seen one, seen an albino squirrel, near to where I am, many years ago.
@@scudger99 really!?
Awesome as always
Thank you :)
I was playing golf on a Chingford golf course about 30 years ago. I played my ball out of bounds and went to look for it in an adjoining field by jumping over a fence.. As I did I saw this Coiled ball of a huge snake It was a massive snake with a body body at least 3 to 4 inches across. Being inquisitive I prodded it and said Hello Mr snake are you having a nice sun bath. In TRUTH and in reality . I RAN like hell and jumped back on the course via another fence opening.
I had no idea snakes in UK could be that big..
Yeah I picked up a grass snake I have also picked up a death adder I love ur work that u do long as u don’t kill them and I don’t think u do so keep up good work
WELL I Was Working on a House In BOARHUNT OXFORDSHIRE It Was a SUNNY Day and IM Having a SANDWICH Sat In a Chair and RIGHT NEXT to Me WAS A Movement and THERE Was TWO 5ft LONG Grass Snakes
Lesser known reptile - it's a common sight to a country dweller.
Are adders not bigger then?
No, adders are quite a bit smaller.
A lovely video!
Thank you!
I very much enjoyed the simplicity and the amount of information. Many RUclips videos are very over the top, repetitive and rather "fancy". Your videos are anything but that. Well done.
By the way, I have done some surveys and research on natrix natrix natrix and natrix natrix Helvetica, whilst being in Europe. Yet I come from Australia.
@@thedragonsterritory2332 cheers. It is tempting to add lots of fancy stuff but I don't think it contributes in any way to the purpose of the video. Top work on the surveys!
Yeh I live only 10 mins drive from North Yorks Moors an still never seen a snake. Sucks.
Seen a large common lizard though.
Seen thousands of adders in my time,but only one grass snake trying to take koi from my neighbours garden!And a dead one that I found in the road that had obviously been rolled over by a car!
Beware .
Do not assume that because they are not venomous they do not bite .
When I first moved to the countryside I made this painful mistake .
Local kids brought one to show me and I was so excited .
With an impish grin they asked if I would like to hold it.
Great , I thought , and extended my man’s to take it gently for a closer look .
Complete shock came as it sank needle sharp teeth into the soft skin between my thumb and forefinger!
The shock matched the pain as my brain tried to compute the messages coming into my brain .
The kids were all laughing at the ‘Townie’ for falling for this .
I’m not venomous but can still bite - Doh !
Ergo , I have learned an important lesson about nature , and myself .
That was over 40 years ago and I’m still learning and using that to get to know the wildlife where I live .
Yes I totally agree that people don't realise just because they have no venom they don't bite. Grass snakes grow to very big sizes as well xxx
Never seen one up here in the northeast of England Adders in Durham there's loads.
Why are all the snakes different sizes?