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15 August 2006 We had some really heavy rain and grey, overcast days while I was down in Kent -- just the ticket for testing my new camera! But there was one fine afternoon which brought out the dragonflies in the wood, and I got some nice shots that test the camera at the limits -- spot-focusing on a dragonfly's thorax 10 feet away at max zoom. I found it a wonderful camera to use and so far the good specs on paper are turning out good in reality ... and more. Meanwhile, Mladen and Vesna have sent some great pics of snakes Mladen has been catching near their home in Croatia. They include several specimens of the fearsome-looking Nose-horned Viper (Vipera ammodytes), the Smooth Snake (Coronella austriaca) and the Aesculapian Snake (Zamenis longissimus). But the two pics that caught my eye were of a tiny, baby Grass Snake (Natrix natrix) in the palm of Mladen's hand and, in striking contrast, of a huge fat specimen whose body more than reaches between his outstretched hands. More fat than long, perhaps, but a wonderful mature specimen. Mladen's preparing web pages of his Croatian reptile and amphibian catches, but I can't resist putting up his two Grass Snake pics here as I'm fond of these snakes myself. When the pages are ready there'll be a link here. (Summer 2007: Mladen's site is now up. Here it is: Snakes of Croatia (Zmije Hrvatske). Pages are in both English and Croatian.) | ||||||||||||||||
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A quite recently hatched Grass Snake -- fits in the palm of your hand! | This must be about the fattest adult (Grass Snake!) I've ever seen. Maybe not the longest though. (200 kb) | |||||||||||||||
Wikepedia has an amazing photo of what looks to be a very long, though more slender, Grass Snake. It's also an unusually dark specimen, but the characteristic head markings tend to confirm the identification. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a description to go with the pic, which appears to be an upload by a member of the public. Here it is, but be warned, it's an 892 kb download. The snake is climbing a wall made of mortared granite, schist and ?migmatite blocks (it's not on flat rock) -- you can see how it's gaining a purchase on small ledges at places along its body. A quite remarkable pic, and worth adding to your collection if you're a herpetophile. If you're not a snake lover, give them a chance. They're as much part of the scheme of things as anything else. In fact they are very delicate and vulnerable animals, and with their long bodies are especially at risk in our mechanised world. The ones that I have kept have been charming and easily tamable creatures. That includes an Indian cobra (Naja naja), which was easily the most intelligent snake I have had.
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