A WOMAN was shocked to encounter a metre-long snake swimming through the water in Poole.

Kerry Batcock from Poole was out for an evening walk at Alder Hills nature reserve on Monday, September 9, when she spotted a ‘black shape swimming through the water’, believed to be a grass snake.

She said: “I looked over the water and saw this black line and I couldn’t quite work it out and then I realised ‘oh my god it’s a snake.’

“I have never seen anything like it- I didn’t even know they could swim!

(Image: Kerry Batcock)

“This was the first time I have seen a snake in wild, so I was pretty lucky to catch it swimming. It was quite amusing the way it moved.”

Kerry is an amateur photographer and frequently visits the nature reserve to capture photographs of the wildlife and the scenery.

She said: “I lived here for over three years and occasionally have come across herons, kingfishers and very rarely I see a cormorant, but never a snake.”

Kerry put the pictures she took of the snake of the Facebook group Preserve Talbot Heath, and it was identified as a grass snake.

She said: “It was difficult to get a good picture because it was moving so quickly.”

Nevertheless, the snake was identified due to its distinctive two-yellow flashes below its head.

The grass snake is usually greenish in colour, with a yellow and black collar, pale belly, and dark markings down the sides. Females are bigger than males.

The Wildlife Trust said grass snakes are the UK’s largest snake, particularly fond of wetland environments but can be found in dry grassland and near ponds.

During the summer, these snakes can be spotted basking in the sun or swimming in the water.

A spokesperson for The Wildlife Trust said: “They hunt amphibians, fish, small mammals and birds.

“Females lay 10 to 40 eggs in rotting vegetation, such as compost heaps, incubating them until they hatch in early autumn. Like all reptiles, grass snake hibernate, usually from October to April.”