Report from Beryl McDowall from the banks of the River Soar with her photographs.
The very hot spell we had fairly recently encouraged the grass snakes (Natrix natrix) to emerge from the protection of the compost heap and rotted tree trunks which have been spiked up to encourage wildlife. One snake sloughed (or shed) its skin in the grass. I was able to disentangle the skin, and photograph it. A slough is also the name given to the discarded skin.
A couple of years ago a small snake was spotted swimming across the river, and emerging from under the landing stage beside the boats. After a few minutes in the grass, it slid back into the Soar and swam (at a considerable speed!) to the cover of the tall grasses on the towpath side of the river.
Last year I saw three different grass snakes on three consecutive days: one plain green one slithering across the mown grass track to the protection of the nettles; a brown one with clear patterns, on the compost heap; a plain brown one on a soil path – all well camouflaged.
Beryl McDowall, August 2015.