Video shows snake swimming in Windermere, Lake District

Kieron Banks, from Kendal, recently shared a video with this publication of the reptile zipping across the lake at Millerground while he was on a boat charr fishing last June.

Kieron, who runs the angling group Fish on the Banks, said: "It was sun bathing on top of a covered boat then it was saw us and away he went, it's the first time I've seen it."

He said his fellow angler has seen snakes, deer and badgers swimming in the lake 'to name but a few.' 

Cumbria Wildlife Trust confirmed that it was a grass snake. David Harpley, conservation manager, said: "They are often associated with water and are excellent swimmers. Quite a lot of their diet consists of frogs. In Cumbria they are not widespread as it is colder than they like.

The snake zipped away from Kieron and his friend when it spotted them (Image: Kieron Banks)

"Therefore they are confined to the far south of the county, so the southern half of lake Windermere, Rusland, Bigland and the like.

"They are entirely harmless and people seeing them should just admire their beauty."

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According to the Woodland Trust, grass snakes are Britain's longest snake, and can exceed a metre in length. Nature lovers can tell if they have seen a grass snake because it has a distinctive yellow and black collar around the neck and black markings along the length of the body. 

Experts describe the species as 'excellent swimmers' (Image: Kieron Banks)

An adder, which is the most famous snake in Britain, has a distinctive dark zigzag pattern along its back. Grass snakes can also be confused with slow worms, according to the trust. They are native to Britain, but are not found in Scotland or Ireland. They are the UK's only egg-laying snake. 

The feed on a diet of amphibians, fish, small mammals and birds. They have no venom, so rely on the element of surprise and swallow prey whole. 

The common grass snake is the only one in the UK that lays eggs (Image: Darius Bauzys (Creative Commons))

Walkers in the southern Lake District may start to see more grass snakes as the weather gets warmer - as they emerge from hibernation in March to April.