Yesterday, the sun was shining brightly and the temperature managed to get up to a balmy 10 degrees on Pevensey Levels. I decided to check some sunny corners to see what might be about and spotted a Grass Snake (Natrix natrix) basking in the undergrowth near the top of a water ditch.
Looking slightly emaciated, having not eaten since before it went into hibernation in the Autumn, the mud patches on its head and body suggest that this individual has been hunting in the ditch for its first meal of the year.
Grass Snake (Natrix natrix)
Postscript:
On Sunday 18th February, I found the same snake basking in the same spot. On closer inspection, what I thought was mud on its head now looks to be an old injury. A slight thickening of its body at about one third of its length may be a sign that it has fed in the last day or so.
