Eye to eye with an adder

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/sep/25/adder-hamsterley-forest-snake-wood-ants

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The wood ants' nest had almost doubled in size since the last time we walked this footpath, four years ago. Now almost a metre high, it seethed with foragers returning from the treetops with a cargo of aphid honeydew or carrying pine needles to thatch their citadel, home to perhaps 250,000 individuals. Standing at a safe distance, I gave it a gentle prod with a fallen twig. When I pulled it out two ants had gripped it with their jaws and curled their abdomens in an attempt to spray their tormentor with formic acid.

Then my wife, finger to her lips, tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the bank near the nest. A female adder, body flattened, had stretched herself out on the grass to luxuriate in the autumn morning sun. She was fully aware of our presence but made no move to retreat, just watching us with her unblinking coppery eyes, tongue flicking in and out. I moved, then so did she, curling around to glide a little higher up the bank and settle again, reluctant to leave.

I can think of no native animal more mesmerising than an adder. There is a compulsion to move closer, to scrutinise the geometry of its scales and to marvel at their mosaic in motion as the reptile flows across the ground. But when I leaned forward her demeanour changed. She curled her body then formed the S-shaped meander in her neck that is the prelude to a defensive strike. As I eased back I noticed two baby adders, no longer that my middle finger, sliding through the grass. We seemed to be standing in the middle of an adder sun-basking hotspot.

Then I felt a sharp pain in my calf. Looking down, I could see agitated wood ants crawling all over my boots, attacking the laces with ferocity out of all proportion to their size. Two had found their way inside my trousers and were biting my leg: served me right, for disturbing their nest.

Twitter: @seymourdaily

• The Guardian's former northern editor Martin Wainwright will chair a discussion of Country diary with diarists Mark Cocker and Derek Niemann and former editor Celia Locks at 11.30am on Saturday 15 November, as part of the sixth annual gathering of New Networks for Nature at Stamford Arts Centre, Lincolnshire