It was a hot sunny day and I was gazing into the garden pond at the comings and goings of the assortment of fish when my attention was drawn to what looked like a fatality in the margins. No, not a fish, but a frog which was lying on the surface with its front legs up in the air. For some reason the hind legs were not visible.
Then, in between the adjacent lily pads I could see what appeared to be the underside of a Grass Snake, and I was able to trace the head end to the frog and could then see that they were actually joined in some way.
I gave the snake a prod but no reaction so pulled them both out. For some reason, instead of swallowing the frog head-first so that the legs would fold along the body, it had swallowed it tail-first which was alright until it came to the front legs which prevented further progress, resulting in the death of them both.
The Grass Snake was 22" long but sadly won't be getting any longer.
I'm amazed both at the incident...and also that you didn't get a "frog in the throat" joke in anywhere!
ReplyDelete