Harper Asprey Wildlife Rescue encouraging through knowledge a natural balance

Natrix Natrix -Jacobson's organ -Egg-Ecdysis

How spectacular are these creatures and they are British. A regular visitor to my pond as a child but really quite rare now. They are grass snakes.

 

 

Grass snakes are normally olive green/brown with black bars or spots down their sides and a yellow and black ‘collar’ behind their head. They can be dark green to black and can grow up to five feet but are usually only around 3 foot long. Females are larger than the males. Their color varies according to distribution, and completely black or partial albino individuals sometimes occur. Black lines run down from their large golden eyes to their top lips. Their underside is usually white or pale yellow with a checkering of blue-black and white markings. Their forked tongues are blue-black.

They are beautiful and help control other wildlife. They eat lots of bugs, frogs, toads, newts, young birds, fish, and small mammals. Most hunting is done underwater, and prey is typically swallowed alive.
During the summer they will often lay their eggs in compost or manure heaps, the heat giving the eggs the necessary temperature to incubate.

They are our only egg laying snakes. They are always found near or in water often where it's damp and sheltered. They can be seen in the morning laid out heating themselves up for the day’s activities. They are not dangerous but can bite if captured.

Grass snakes are distributed over much of Europe except for the far north, parts of North Africa and central Asia. Although absent from Scotland and Ireland, they are widespread in England and Wales, but have become increasingly scarce in recent years.
The grass snake is fully protected against being sold, injured or killed in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in England and Wales, but have become increasingly scarce in recent years.
Grass snakes are active during the day and spend time basking in the sun to warm up. They hibernate from October to March, often communally in old rabbit burrows, wall crevices, in piles of manure or under tree roots.

They are good swimmers - their generic name means water snake. They swim with their heads out of the water, but if disturbed, grass snakes will dive underneath and hide amongst water weeds. They can remain underwater for up to an hour.

When threatened, grass snakes puff up their bodies and hiss loudly in an attempt to frighten the predator away. If contact is made, they emit a foul-smelling liquid from their anal glands. If this fails to put off an attacker, they roll over on to their backs and play dead. They remain very still with their mouth open and their tongue hanging out for up to 15 minutes, or until the attacker loses interest. Since many carnivores will eat carrion, this seems like a strange method of defense, but it seems to work.
Grass snakes mate in April-May. The male follows the female about until they twist the lower parts of their bodies together and copulate. The female lays 8-40 eggs, depending on her size, in July-August. A clutch usually contains about 10 eggs held together by mucous, secreted by the glands of the oviduct, which then dries to hold the eggs together. Female grass snakes choose a warm site to lay their eggs, such as a compost heap or under rotting logs, and will often use the same egg-laying sites as other females. A communal site may contain over a thousand eggs. The females stay near the nest site for a few days. The young grass snakes have an egg tooth to help them hatch out of the leathery eggs in late August-September.
Although grass snakes produce a venomous secretion that is toxic to small animals, they are harmless to humans.

 

 

 

 

 

why we do it

Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance on the beach, and so he walked faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean READ MORE

 

How we started

Whilst out walking with my dog in the early 1980's I found a small hedgehog stuck in a fence. He was too fat to go through and his prickles wouldn't let him go back.

He had been pushing so long in an attempt to free himself that the wire had cut into his body and his leg was bleeding where he had pushed and pushed against the ground. READ MORE

 

 

 

 

Old Towels

 

We use thousands of old towels each year. If you are having a clear out in your airing cupboard or a colour change in your bathroom, WC or if you are downsizing, clearing out for a relative or if you just hate your towels please let us have them. Many of our angels are injured, hay and straw can get into wounds and irratate them, so towels are just perfect.

Equipment

Crush cage £52.29 Net £29.00 Rabies gloves £68.00 Specialist remote trap £459.00 Standard trap £120.00

Net loop £94.00 Avian net £37.98 Stick holster £83.78 Ultra bite gloves £60.00 Heavy duty gauntlets £170.00

 

Old Mobile Phones

 

Do you or your friends keep up to date with the latest mobile phone trends because if you do please send us your old mobile phone so we can change them for cash and then change that into food. You old mobile could help some of our precious orphans who themsleves had just had a close call! Send to Harper Asprey Wildlife Rescue, Marlborough House, Augustus Gardens, Camberley, Surrey, GU15 1HL

 

Used Stamps

Please send us your old used stamps we can change them into cash. These old and used stamps bring vital funds to our rescue, so if you get good news through the post think of us and save that stamp. You can send or deliver these to us in any amounts. No amount is too small and each stamp is gratefully received. Send to Harper Asprey Wildlife Rescue, Marlborough House, Augustus Gardens, Camberley, Surrey, GU15 1HL

 

volunteers

We are run totally by volunteers. Our volunteers are dedicated and come from a wide range of backgrounds and all bring something special to our team.

 

We are always looking for more volunteers to carry out some of the roles below.

If you have some spare time and would like to help us in some area please fill out the following form and return it to info@harperaspreywildliferescue.co.uk. and we will be in contact with you.

As well as helping with animal care, there are other volunteering opportunities.

Maybe you could collect injured animals in your area when needed and bring them into us.

 

Perhaps you have experience in fundraising or PR and you can help raise awareness of our charity through local and national media?

Maybe you have strong administration skills.

If you think that you have the skills to help us then please complete the form on this page. Volunteers

We are sorry but we cannot take anyone under the age of 18.

Shopping on-line with Amazon

 

If you shop with Amazon please use our link. For every pound you spend Amazon will donate money to us. Just click on the link and shop as normal. You pay and buy through Amazon and have all your consumer rights. By using our link Amazon sends us a tiny percentage of your purchase without affecting the cost to you.

Every little helps.

Amazon has an incredible diversity of products to suit every person for every occasion and just about every need. So please think about shopping with them and helping us.

The link for Amazon can be found on most of the pages on this site and is below. Just click onto the link and you are straight into Amazon.

 

 

 

 

This page has been proof read by Sandra