SNAKES in Caithness

[frank ward]

Can anybody shed some light on the existence of snakes in Caithness?

I've seen an adder as far north as Invershin, basking under a hot railway track, but I would be curious to know where and when people have seen adders and any others, such as slow worms, grass snakes etc etc.

[Doug Country]

The giant spiders have eatin all the snakes.

[fred]

Can anybody shed some light on the existence of snakes in Caithness?

I've seen an adder as far north as Invershin, basking under a hot railway track, but I would be curious to know where and when people have seen adders and any others, such as slow worms, grass snakes etc etc.

I know someone that has seen adders on the walk up the Strath at Dunbeath and I've heard of them near to Lyth. Never seen one myself.

[Bob M]

I have seen Adders several times over the years while walking the track over the hill from the Brawlbin area to loch Calder by the side of the forest, they are likely to be found in good weather sunning themselves on rocks and present no hazard to walkers if you leave them alone. A friend's dog was bitten by an adder while fishing a loch out west and had to be treated by a vet. They may not be common but there are not that unusual.

[Violetsky]

I know there have been adders seen in the hill in Mey

[George Brims]

Once when I was very small (which was a long time ago, children), we came back to our house at the farm of Strath in Watten to find an adder sunning itself on the back doorstep. That summer there seemed to be a lot of snakes and several were found around the farm.

Some years later my dad stopped the car at the southern end of the farm to look at a cow that was ailing, and my mum and I went into the moor on the other side of the road, where there was a small pond, to look for frogs' eggs. She spotted a snake basking in the sun on a pile of stones, and stopped to point it out to me. At that point we heard a hiss and looking down discovered another snake, pinned to the ground by her foot! It is no exaggeration to say I have never seen my mum move so fast. She grabbed me and took off. As we approached the fence I was suddenly reminded of one of those things with the thin wires for slicing hard-bolied eggs, which we had just recently acquired. Fortunately she managed to shove me through the wires rather than the other way around, and then to my complete amazement put her hands on top of a post and leapt *over* the fence herself. Once we were in the car she *locked all the doors*.

I know snakes were also common around Bower, as my grandad at Bowertower used to have one preserved in a whisky bottle (I assume in formalinn as there was no way he would have wasted whisky).

[The Pepsi Challenge]

Seen them in Thurso, back in the 80s.

[Margaret M.]

Thanks for the chuckle, George, obviously a very vivd memory. I loved the comparison of the fence to an egg slicer.

[jay]

saw a slow worm at Berridale once, back when the gardens were open as part of the nursery

[Lavenderblue2]

I think anybody who has ever cut peats has probably seen an adder at least once.

We did when we used to cut peats in the hill at Winless - it nearly put my husband off for good!! Scaredy cat..............I don't really mean that, I got a bit of a gluff too.

LB

[Karen/Ann Summers]

Did loads of Duke of Edinburgh hikes over Caithness and Sutherland and more often than not someone would come accross an adder enroute.

[George Brims]

I think slow worms are prtty common on the east coast of the county at least as far north as Lybster. I remember someone bringing them in to school biology class. Can't say I've ever seen one myself in any other areas. Never seen a grass snake either.

[Moira]

No, No, No !

Now you guys have really rocked my world! First the spider "thing" & then the snakes. From being paranoid about taking a shower without minutely examining the whole cubicle first - I am now also destined to never again step out on the hills & moors of Caithness. basking in the "total wonderfulness" of the freedom which bids me & my dog to walk free of fear in this remote but beautiful wilderness.

I've walked my dog in all the places mentioned and "done" the peat stacking & the tattie picking at Winless too, and I have never seen a snake in Caithness. Maybe I have just been lucky to avoid them - or unlucky not to ever have seen one - depending on your point of view.

The Caithness Rangers, employed by Highland Council, would be better experienced to tell us what is "lurking about" here in Caithness these days, with regard to spiders & snakes. I'll try to remember to ask them about this next time I see them. Until then I will be sticking to the tarmac paths in the town & just outside & hope that my dog forgives me my reluctance to venture further.

[champagnebaby]

Same here Moira, after reading all these posts about snakes i'm well paranoid! I absolutely hate the things. [mad]

Went out a walk last night and it was getting dark, i was walking beside a field and one trouser leg kept hitting off the other - i was freaked! I kept thinking it was a snake twisting round my ankles, lol :lol:

My mum seen an adder at Lyth once when she was little.

[Joey]

Over the years we have seen many adders, especially up near Westerdale.

[George Brims]

Don't panic Moira. As far as I know, only one person has died of a snake bite in Britain since World War 2, and in that case the family unfortunately drove the person to a hospital that had no casualty dpartment and then had to go to another one. The bite of an adder is not particularly venomous for a human or other large animal, unless as can happen with bee stings the person has an allergy problem. I beleive that was the case with the poor lad that died.

You better not book a holiday to California Moira, we have Black Widow spiders, and a number of species of rattlesnake, as well as some whopping spiders. Of course the nitwits on the freeway are more likely to kill me than any of those.

[captain chaos]

As a youngster at the peats (some 30 ears ago in the Warth Hill) it was quite common to see the adder. It has a beautiful zigzag black strip down its back.

To be honest the old man had a habit of trying to run them down with the tractor :evil

Quite often found their cast skin around the hill.

In the last 100 years about 10 people have been killed in the UK by adders but there have been no deaths in the last 20 years.

I might add that Adders are now protected by law in Great Britain against being killed, injured or sold or traded in any way.

[Don Quixote]

Seen lots of adders over the years. Almost always when I was going to/from lochs for fishing.

Most frequent sightings were around Loch Toftingall (before the trees were planted) where there were lots and usually several at a time. Loch Calder west side is also a common area to find them. Sometimes you will find a skin which they shed once they have outgrown it.

Basically you find them where there is plenty food - FROGS.