Snake on a Playground

It’s clear that we have chosen the right people to undertake the environmental element of the Romsey Road bridge replacement scheme in Hampshire, not only are they great at rehousing the many reptiles that they have found on site, they have also responded to an emergency call!

Our ecologist was busy working on our Romsey Road site when he received a call from his HQ advising that a School playground was being held hostage by what they thought was an Adder.

The school did what we’d all do and Googled snake rescue and found that Naturally Wild had experience in this niche field and gave them a call. Graeme, from Naturally Wild was soon on his way up the very motorway that the Romsey Road bridge crosses,  on a mission to offer professional skills to the school.

When Graeme arrived still in full PPE, he soon realised that the snake was in fact a grass snake, it had been spooked and was seeking shelter behind a strategically placed bin in the middle of the Community College’s playground.

The large mature female snake was unknowingly causing quite a disturbance to the school, with teachers stood around the bin on snake protection duty; not a resource the school could afford as it’s the first week of GCSE’s!

Graeme gently captured this wayward reptile, and gave it the once over, he was able to see that although old, she was in good health.  The thrill seeking snake was then dutifully and carefully moved to a more suitable habitat. Understandably the school were extremely relieved that the snake was safe; as were all of their students and staff.

The Community College were amazed to hear that there was no charge for this bespoke service, Graeme explained; “we declined to take payment for this service, as  I believe is part of our, (Osborne and Naturally Wild’s) corporate responsibility to engage and help, especially when the school thought that the snake was an Adder, which is the UK’s only venomous snake.”

A huge thanks to Graeme and Naturally Wild for going the extra mile!