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Never seen a snake in the UK - and I'm over 60, but to my astonishment last summer I saw one swimming in a river, La Sarthe, to the east of Alencon.

Generally speaking, if it is sandy environment such as beach, dunes or heathland and dry, it'll be adder territory as the normally eat warm-blooded creatures such as mice and voles but will take sand lizards.  They hunt by sensing the warmth of their prey via two special pit sensors in their face.

In more green verdant areas with ponds, rivers and wet ditches the snakes will be normally grass snakes whose diet is more inclined to be amphibians such as frogs, newts, toads and, yes, occassional fish.  These snakes constrict their prey before swallowing and they are remarkably good swimmers with their heads just above the water.  A good population of frogs will sustain  a lot of grass snakes and they are not normally territorial. and groups can be seen.

The poisonous vipers (Adders in UK) wait for poison to debilitate their prey before swallowing.  The rarer smooth snake is more inclined to the dryer territories but, same as grasssnake constricts before consuming.

To see snakes your need to be very quiet and walk very softly,  Make any noise and the efforlessly disappear.  Hope this helps.

All the snakes of France + photos and for all other Species 

If you want to see the things, then Queen Elizabeth Country Park in Hampshire is heaving with Adders