Country diary: more slithering predators, please

Ferry Meadows, Peterborough: There's nothing I want more than grass snakes in my gardenOne of my major wildlife relationship ambitions involves snakes, specifically grass snakes. I desire green serpents in my garden. Many of you will find this unfathomable, but some of you will absolutely get it. Snakes fill a unique place in the human perception of the natural world, sometimes representing good, often embodying evil, usually beneficial, sometimes loved pets, but all too often persecuted and heartlessly slaughtered. Their ancestors once had legs, but they gave them up as unnecessary extravagances. Snakes are highly evolved eating tubes, slithering predators, alert, fast, patient, acute, efficient. Their mosaic skins are a colourful marvel, durable yet repeatedly refreshed by the bizarre phenomenon of shedding their cuticle like a sock. Continue reading...