The largest native terrestrial reptile in the UK. I have to include those points to deter the keyboard warriors from highlighting that we occasionally get turtles visiting out shores and there are two well established populations of aesculapian snakes in the UK now. London’s Regents Park and in and around Colwyn Bay. These are larger than grass snakes and are the snakes seen on all ambulances and hospital signs, wrapped around a staff. Yeah, that one.
So our native grass snake Natrix natrix helvetica, has, in days gone by, been recorded as obtaining lengths in excess of two meters. That’s six feet, for those of you reading this in the nineteen fifties.
They are typical colubrids with large round eyes, unlike the adder or Reform mp’s who have slit pupils. A distinct neck, slender body, keeled scales, which give them a rough feel and a delightful checker board pattern on their undersides. The face is heavily marked with black and cream upper lips and Alice Cooper make up under the eyes. All these features make the grass snake a distinctly attractive beast.
The classic cream, yellow and black collar gives it its other common name collard snake. Certainly across mainland Europe they are referred to by this feature. German Ringelnatter, Dutch Ringslang, French Couleuvre à collier, Italian Biscia dal collare, Spanish (Castilian) Culebra de collar, Basque Suge gorbataduna. You get the picture.
Feeding on fish, amphibians and small mammals these inoffensive reptiles can become quite habituated to human activity and are often encountered in garden ponds and compost heaps.
Compost heaps, I hear you cry. Yes, indeed. In fact any warm mound of vegetation can offer the grass snake just what it needs in a habitat. Unlike our other native reptiles, the common lizard, slow worm, smooth snake and adder, which give birth to live young, the grass snake relies on a natural incubator in which to lay it’s eggs. Hence their affiliation with humous.
Only the grass snake and sand lizard lay eggs.
Which brings us nicely to the point of this article. As gardeners we are always left with the issue of what to do with our arisings. That's the posh and often regarded as annoying word for waste products.
How your piles can benefit grass snakes
Well, good people, worry not. There is a way we can help our herpetofauna. (Collective term for amphibians and reptiles). A well placed heap of slowly decomposing grass can provide grass snakes with the perfect nesting opportunity. Pile your mowings in a sunny corner, beneath a hedge, tree line or against a bank. Not too close to a water source, to avoid nutrient leaching. Other wildlife will benefit from these piles as well as the snakes. Other reptiles will of course enjoy the warmth, shelter and foraging within the heap. Small mammals and invertebrates and of course amphibians. In areas where predation of the eggs may be an issue, from badgers, pheasants, chickens etc, a tarpaulin placed over the heap can help protect from curious claws and teeth.
Some fresh grass can be mown (with a scythe preferrably) in late May and placed in a heap a meter square and no more than fifty centimetres high. This is then left, with a tarp over the top. Hopefully within a few short years loyal female grass snakes will use your heap for nesting purposes. By mid June they will have all deposited clutches of soft shelled, grape sized eggs in sticky clusters. The adult snakes remain in the warmth of the nest heap. This is not out of some nurturing parental behaviour but purely because of the security and temperature. Also the heap attracts amphibians, which allows the snakes to feed without having to risk predation themselves out in the big bad world.
So, I’m sure we can all find a few meters of grass in the corner of a meadow or lawn somewhere that needs a little snip in May. Pile it up somewhere appropriate and leave it be. By the end of August most, if not all the eggs will have hatched and the young snakes will have upped and left. As will the adults. There is a temptation by some in conservation circles to top up the heaps to help maintain the heat. While this is done with good intentions it does run the risk of squashing the eggs. They are laid close to the surface and as a result can suffer if too much weight is added. As mentioned, reptile eggs are soft shelled, not hard like birds.
Grass snakes, like all native reptiles, are in decline from habitat loss, predation, persecution from idiots and loss of nesting sites. In County Durham and Northumberland for example, no confirmed sightings have been recorded since 2007. So any effort we can make to assist these stunning creatures would be well received. Maybe your local wildlife trust would be happy to have some free snake nesting material. Perhaps you could contact your county amphibian and reptile group to assist with some habitat management. Local groups can be found listed in the ARG UK website. www.arguk.org/get-involved/local-groups.
Gardens make up a massive amount of land in the UK and this is increasing year on year with the pressures from new housing projects. So as we take away, so should we give back. Ponds are great for providing a food source for grass snakes. Log piles and stone heaps are essential places to hibernate and take shelter. As well as being hugely important to a host of small animals. But vital to the grass snakes survival is the provision of nesting sites. So please consider providing a simple nest heap. All animals are important in an ecosystem. Without one level in the food web it may well collapse and reptiles and amphibians are regarded as key indicators of a healthy biodiverse habitat. They are postioned in that mid level where they prey upon many smaller animals, including some pests, as well as being preyed upon themselves by larger mammals and birds in the chain.
So lets do our part. Go out there and get grubby. Build some heaps.
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