Nature in action, not for the squeamish.

[jongood]

Saw this on our walk yesterday, you need to zoom in because we weren't getting too close

 

[Northern Boy]

Is this a snake eating or about to eat a Toad?

I was in South Africa and saw a snake on the side of a path who had eaten a hare or something of that size, just looked like a snake with a football in the middle of it. The ranger explained it would just stay like that for at least a week while it slowly digested it. We could all learn to sit quietly as we digest our food, well I could anyway.

Nature is quite wonderful if we don't get disgusted by our flawed conditioning.

 

[jongood]

Is this a snake eating or about to eat a Toad?

I was in South Africa and saw a snake on the side of a path who had eaten a hare or something of that size, just looked like a snake with a football in the middle of it. The ranger explained it would just stay like that for at least a week while it slowly digested it. We could all learn to sit quietly as we digest our food, well I could anyway.

Nature is quite wonderful if we don't get disgusted by our flawed conditioning.

Got it exactly. It was on the side of the path, I heard a hiss, went for a look and saw the toad that was trying to move but not getting anywhere,I then saw tha snake and I know it doesn't look big in the photo but......

 

[Holly's mum]

Nature is amazing, the fact that a snake had swallow such big creatures and slowly digest them over a few days is fascinating.

Good photo jongood

 

[scally]

I'm an avid nature watcher but only in uk. Still facinating to watch two birds squabbling over a little bit of lakeside when there is yards available

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[Northern Boy]

Got it exactly. It was on the side of the path

If you can go back at some time you may catch and photo the snake digesting its toad

 

[movan]

Saw this on our walk yesterday, you need to zoom in because we weren't getting too close
View attachment 514853

Are you in this country!!!!

What kind of snake is it, please?

 

[funflair]

Nice one Jon, saw an otter up your river yesterday but no photo sorry.

 

[Steve and Denise]

Are you in this country!!!!

What kind of snake is it, please?

A hungry one

 

[AXO66]

Saw what I thought was a ferret? , or pine Martin? chasing a rabbit in Scotland . The speed was and still is , indescribable . It was lightening quick . With both animals changing direction in a blink and covering meters of ground . . Totally absorbing to watch.

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[jongood]

Are you in this country!!!!

What kind of snake is it, please?

Im really sorry but I didn't hang around long enough to ask

In the Picos Europas.

 

[glenn2926]

Nature is fantastic isn’t it? The natural world is red in tooth and claw exactly as it should be.
What a great picture and you were very lucky to see that. I am very jealous, I do like to see predators hunting and being successful.

 

[Brains]

In the Picos Europas.

I thought TOAD's were illegal in Spain.
I've read loads of threads here that say the Police clamp down on them

 

[kevenh]

On a safari trip I saw the dust from a python taking a small antelope.
We went over to check out out.
A snake eating an antelope is a drawn out process
We watched for ~20min while the snake faffed around pulling the dead antelope straight, went off to look at something else.
On out return a few minutes later the snake was ready to start swallowing.
They have to dislocate their jaw to swallow. And that has a sound effect
Anyway, long short, the snake had “bit off more than it can chew” - literally.
It had to abandon the kill and slink off.

 

[jongood]

Our last safari the there was a pride of lions eating a buffalo, we sat there for quite a while as the hyenas circled but not brave enough to tackle the lions. There wasnt a lot of flesh left on the carcass so the guide said the lions were probably going to leave it to the hyenas pretty soon. We came back the next morning and there was no trace apart from a little hair.

Wonderful stuff nature.

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[Pusscat]

It looks like it could be one of the rat snakes, maybe aesculapian snake, possibly a black grass snake? Looks a little too slimline for a viper / adder!

Lucky to see it!

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Some toads excrete a slime on their skin. It may ,if the toad can do this, escape being the snakes dinner . an nteresting photo.

 

[makems]

We were on a creek safari in the Gambia quite a few years ago and a fewof us dismounted from the small boat to explore an abandoned village which was really uninteresting. on our walk back to the boat our guide spotted a Green Mamba - a deadly but fortunately very dead snake. it looked like a heron or similar had stabbed it just behind the head.
anyway the whole group were having their photos taken holding up this snake which was about 4 or 5 feet long. When it was Gwen’s turn some wag (not me, honest) shouted “ it’s still alive!” Gwen flung the snake about 20 feet in the air and ran away as fast as she could. Wish I had a video.

 

[Northern Boy]

Wonderful stuff nature

However we must remember that we humans are not at the top of the food chain

 

[IanFraser]

Van trip before this we were out for a cycle on the Crinan canal. Stopped at a bench to enjoy wee picnic, overlooking a nice bird reserve, lots of ducks/geese out on the flats. Wife gets out her monocular for a better view then let’s out a loud oh no…jackdaws swooping in, grabbing and carrying off a duckling then ripping it to pieces. Nature but not the kind you want to see.

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[Shrimp]

I’ve watched a big Grass snake take & swallow a frog, in Wales! Fascinating, not for the frog tho!