Barred Grass Snake

The barred grass snake has a dark grey-green upper body with distinctive black markings in the form of bars running along its sides. Its underside is pale. Like the grass snake, it has a distinctive yellow and black collar around its neck. It can grow to over a metre in length.

The species is found in Great Britain as far north as southern Scotland, and in the Netherlands, western Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France. The nominate subspecies N. h. helvetica has the widest distribution: from Britain to the Pyrenees and the Rhine region.

Barred grass snakes are semi-aquatic and prey mainly on amphibians, especially common toads and common frogs; they also eat fish, some small land mammals and nestling birds, and may occasionally take ants and their larvae. Captive snakes have been observed accepting earthworms offered by hand, but they never take dead prey items. The snake actively searches for prey, often on the edges of the water, using its Jacobson's organ to detect smells and sights. They consume live prey without using constriction.