Can it be a Smooth Snake?

[Gue Jam Fowsid]

Hi all,

This is a lucky shot I got late last year on heathland in Hampshire. This is the only time I have seen the female with the young.





I have also seen Smooth Snakes in Surrey. They can look fairly similar to smaller Grass snakes.

Cheers

[arvensis]

Nice Pic, was that taken in the New Forest or another area of Hampshire?

[Gue Jam Fowsid]

I took this one in North East Hampshire. Close to Bordon.

Cheers

[fairplay]

I've been away from WAB for some time now, but feel the need to come back in to this thread.

It is strange that 'Professor' has not got back to us with further information (perhaps this post may nudge him!).
Several possibilities arise :
1. Professor was mistaken - it was a grass snake.
2. Professor was trying to make a name for himself.
3. Professor or someone else, illegally took a smooth snake and illegally released it in a new area.

If I am wrong, I do apologise to Professor sincerely, but if it turns out to be a real smooth snake this is BAD NEWS.

There is no way this single ? snake could have made this huge leap to a new county/habitat without human interference.
I am no snake expert, but for some reason smooth snakes are very poor at expanding their range - it could be due to fragmentation of the heathland, but then as far as I know, Natural England have made no attempt to 're-introduce' these snakes to other counties and of course if there are no historical records, they have no valid reason to do so.

It could also be because of a 'micro climate' which is not found away from it's natural area.

So why do I say "BAD NEWS" then?
To start, this individual would have had to have been captured from the wild, that is illegal because of it's threatened status.
If this was a pregnant female, a population could only be sustained (for a short period) by in-breeding, - not a good thing as there will be no DNA variation.
So in all probability, this snake will not live very long.

I hope people understand why I wrote this piece and I hope it explains why one should never take a wild species from it's natural habitat.

Neil.