Adder

She silently slithered into the gorse bushes and I gingerly slithered after her.

I was on Cleeve Hill Common near the 18th tee of the golf course and as a site of Special Scientific Interest I was keeping my eyes peeled for rare...anything! There was just the slightest movement out of the corner of my eye for just a second and not seeming too bothered about me she proceeded to curl up and bask in a small sun-trap in the gorse bushes.

If you look closely into her eye you can see a reflection of me taking the shot!

Adders have,'THE most highly developed venom mechanism of all snakes', according to the Forestry Commission - a small snippet that I didn't know when we were nearly nose to nose. However on the plus side no-one has died in Britain from the bite in the last twenty years! All good then!