It is a tradition in many countries to have a horseshoe near your front door for luck. One question we have often asked in different areas we have stayed is, which direction should it be hung and there are various answers and reasons. If the open ends point upwards this is said to catch the luck and preserve it for you, or on the contrary should the ends point downwards thereby allowing the luck to flow freely? That said will the luck flow at our doorstep this week due to a different, much larger, horseshoe which passed by – a Horseshoe Whip Snake!

Most of our views of snakes are far too brief as we perhaps do not spot them until they move, but then the flash of pattern as they disappear is difficult to discern. This particular character froze as Clive walked by on the narrow pathway and I just had time to alert him to our visitor, send the dog back into the house and turn on my pocket sized camera to get a few shots. I had already recognised the pattern and knew that I was safe to approach this snake as they are not venemous.

I crept up to the tail, as at this point I could not see the head and if I could not see it, it could not see me! I noted that the tail ended in a bluntly rounded tip. This part was laid flat on the floor with the middle section raised over a large black plastic plant pot and head draped over the other side. I moved to take a picture of the pattern on its back, the colours were quite dark overall. The circumference was around 17cm at the thickest part and the individual scales rather pointed, all these details are normally missed. As I peered over the pot the snake raised its head to view me, from this moment it would be looking for a quick getaway, so my movements were very slow so as not to scare it further.

This handsome adult of 130cm had no-where to hide and no choice but to make a dash across open terrain before lithely disappearing into the safety of a stone wall. Snakes are quite welcome here as they keep the number of rodents down during the summer months when our cat is pre-occupied with finding the right spot for an undisturbed siesta. In turn a healthy population of snakes means that we get some terrific views of the local Short-toed eagles (Circaetus gallicus), an eagle which specialises in catching reptiles and these are frequent visitors to the fields behind us and are currently accompanied by their offspring.

We have made an effort to reduce the places that creatures can live un-noticed right up against the house. Log piles, mounds of dried leaves, stacks of tiles or rocks can each be very attractive to our wild neighbours and so they are kept further away. Well it works most of the time!

Scientific name: Coluber hippocrepis

Castilian name: Culebra herradura

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