Grass Snake (Natrix natrix)
	Description	A long (full grown adult: up to 1m), thin, fast moving snake associated with water meadows, river banks and garden ponds where it hunts its amphibian/fish prey. Harmless. Swims strongly. Easily identifiable by the light collar round its neck (yellow, white or orange, although occasionally absent), black V behind the collar, black vertical bars and spots along its sides and olive/grey/brown colouration. Both sexes similar in appearance. Females lay clutches of eggs in piles of rotting vegetation, sometimes several hundred eggs together, and the young hatch out in September. Often common in garden ponds in hot summers. A cornered Grass Snake hisses and strikes with its mouth closed. If captured it will probably vent the contents of its anal sacs (a foul-smelling oily fluid which takes days to disappear) and may even play dead, rolling belly up, opening its mouth and lolling its tongue to avoid further injury.
		Status
	Reserve	Common around the lakes on sunny summer mornings and occasionally disturbed basking on the south-facing banks of the Sunrise Trail. To download a report about reptile habitat use at Broad Oak Nature Reserve, click here:
	Britain	Widespread but declining. The south-east remains a stronghold.
	World	Sub-species distributed throughout Europe.