Snakes (RSPB Spotlight)

Packed with information, Spotlight Snakes is the go-to guide to discovering the secrets of the UK's snakes, including how to identify and spot them in the wild and the latest scientific discoveries about their life-history and ecology.

Intelligent, active, erudite, combative, sensual and even capable of caring--these are not words usually used to describe snakes, but our ancient perception of snakes as lowly objects inspiring fear and persecution is changing. Few creatures have had more of a turnaround in public interest than the UK's three species of snake, two of which occur widely throughout England, Wales and Scotland.

Snakes are an evolutionary masterpiece, with a legless body plan capable of squeezing into the tightest spots in search of prey, a sensory system based on heat, taste and smell that is almost unrivaled in nature, and an ecology far more complicated than scientists had ever imagined. RSPB Spotlight Snakes is the story of the UK's snakes: how they live, what secrets they hold and why they should be cherished as unique parts of Britain's natural history.