Great excitement by the lily pond at RHS Hyde Hall near Chelmsford, Essex last month when P spotted, and was able to photograph, a swimming snake.
It was a gorgeous hot June Saturday in Hyde Hall's Rose Weekend, which we were visiting with Surrey Organic Gardening Group.
In the first photo you can just see the snake on the left; it seems to be having a snooze in the shade of Gunnera at the edge of the pond. A few moments after this pic, the coot spotted the snake and made a huge fuss, waking it up and chasing it off. Perhaps its chicks are prey to snakes.
The rest of the photos show the snake moving through the water and finally disappearing away under the lilies.
It appears to be a grass snake; they are known to be good swimmers. This one was about three foot long, apparently the fully grown female can be 4 foot and, exceptionally, up to 6 foot long.
