The Black Adder

Adders aren't uncommon on Ardnamurchan. Each year, it seemed, a dog would be bitten by one, sometimes with fatal results, and occasionally a human would have an unpleasant encounter - see post here. We came across them while walking, often when they were basking in the sun on a path and, being adders, unwilling and then slow to move. So when, one day, while returning home along an overgrown path just above our house, a movement caught my eye, I knew at once it was a snake and immediately felt for my camera.

However, it wasn't the snake I expected. It was an adder but a melanic version, a genuine black adder and, in the seconds it spent in the entrance to its lair, I managed to take four pictures. Then it was gone.

I spent my early years in countries where venomous snakes were not uncommon - our dachshund, Susie, killed a large mamba in our front garden, post here - and when we lived in the Rhodesian bush we came across many. I have never been afraid of them but have a healthy respect for the danger they can pose, but I also think there is a beauty in them which surpasses their reputation.

In the days that followed I walked that track several times searching for the black adder, and was rewarded with two more sightings, but never close enough for a better picture. After that it disappeared, though the crofter next door told me he had seen it below his house.