This was the sight that met a gardener when she found a wild snake devouring a frog whole in her back garden.
Gillian Taylor witnessed the scene at her home in Brinklow, Warwickshire, and quickly grabbed her camera to take some photos. In the images, the grass snake is seen swallowing the frog, with only the smaller creature’s head and arms still visible.
“Yesterday, I went to have my usual check on the area and I cannot describe how stunned I was to see a grass snake clutching one of the frogs in its mouth,” Ms Taylor said.
“The snake was huge.”
The opportunistic grass snake was found clutching the hapless frog in its mouth CREDIT: Mediadrumimages/Gilly T Photogra
She added: “I raced back up to the house to grab my camera and managed to capture what I was witnessing there in my own back garden.
“All I kept saying out loud was ‘oh my god’.
“The snake and the frog just seemed to be staring at me as I clicked away, capturing each moment the frog slowly disappeared into the mouth of the snake.”
Ms Taylor said she had never seen a snake in her garden before.
Not much more to swallow for the snake CREDIT: Mediadrumimages/Gilly T Photogra
She said: “After it had eaten the frog it slithered back into the wild, very tall weeds and flowers, unlikely to ever be spotted again until it returns to the pond.”
Grass snakes can be found throughout the UK and are the most frequently seen British snake. They can grow up to 70 inches in length.
Feasting on frogs is common for grass snakes with their diet primarily consisting of frogs, toads and newts.