Adder and a tail

[Rambling Rob]

Hello,

Spotted this male (I think) adder lying coiled in the grass on the cliff top near Sandown, IoW yesterday evening. Very cooperatively it remained motionless while I fumbled with the camera.



This afternoon I found this on the path further around the coast.



Is this the shed tail of a slow worm? I have heard they do this to distract a predator but never found evidence before. Ants were congregated around the broken end. The freshly disembowelled remains of a rabbit were lying nearby, so something scary had been about.

Thanks for looking, Rob

[aeshna5]

Yes it is the tail of a Slow Worm. I saw somebody handling one once when it shed its tail, though a smaller length was shed.

[ViperaBerus]

Yeah, that's a male. Looks like this is his first year in his mature colours. You can tell by the brown tinge around the patternation. He'll lose this on subsequent sloughs.