I think you'll find its almost certainly a grass snake

They hibernate over winter in tree roots and the like and when they shed their skin they can look lighter in colour and distinctly different. The fact that you saw three together also points to that because they tend to hibernate in groups. I've seen over a dozen together at this time of the year down by the river. The warmer weather brings then out but they take a bit of time to come up to speed hence why they haven't moved too far apart. Their numbers have increased a lot in recent years. If you're lucky you'll see them swimming because they are fantastic in the water hence why the rest of Europe call them the swimming snake and not grass snake. For what it's worth I think they're beautiful but I know some people kill them because of their inherent fear which is such a shame. If I am wrong (and I confess I'm no expert) I'd be interested because I know of only the Adder, Grass, Smooth (which as far as I'm aware is only found in Souther Britain) and the slow worm which is a lizard but gets confused for a snake. It can't be a slowworm because they're much smaller and I've seen many of these but never with any green or yellow.

Posted By: Chopper on March 11th 2012 at 11:38:21

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Fao wildlife experts,what kind of a snake is dark green/khaki with a yellow patch on its h (General Chat) - protheroe fitzgibbon, Mar 11, 11:09:24
- I think you'll find its almost certainly a grass snake (General Chat) - Chopper, Mar 11, 11:38:21
  - I assumed they were grass snakes,from what i saw they were the same as the same as the pre (General Chat) - protheroe fitzgibbon, Mar 11, 12:08:27
- does it look like this? (General Chat) - emmaroyds, Mar 11, 11:15:29
  - I wouldnt say so,i googled grass snake and adder and the pictures i saw werent the (General Chat) - protheroe fitzgibbon, Mar 11, 11:22:19
    - I always thought that in the UK we only had two native snakes (General Chat) - ghostof barry butler, Mar 11, 11:26:03
      - check out this RSPCA site (General Chat) - emmaroyds, Mar 11, 11:32:06
      - Thats what i thought,admittedly im looking at my phone in the sun so its hard to get a pro (General Chat) - protheroe fitzgibbon, Mar 11, 11:30:21

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