On 2009-06-21 20:39:26 +0100, K said:

Sacha writes

Later, she found the sloughed skin and brought it in which gave me a
bit of a start when I found it on the window sill in the back corridor!

I was wandering along a path in Portugal when I cam across the crumpled
skin of an adder-type snake lying across the path (black diamonds along
the whole length). 'Husband would like that' I thought, then some
cautious instinct kicked in, and I reached out very carefully with the
toe of my boot and touched the tip of the tail, whereupon the 'skin'
headed into the undergrowth at a rate of knots!

Shudder! As David says, there must be some atavistic instinct that
prevails on these rare occasions! My step-daughter (heavily involved
in horsey world) was telling us today that horses are sometimes bitten
by adders in warm weather because the horses are happily grazing and
plonk a hoof on or near a snake which rears up and bites the horse on
the mouth or 'nose'. Vets come out immediately and inject the antidote
as horses can be very allergic.
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Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics.
South Devon