"I thought it was a prank": Man gobsmacked as six-foot snake spotted in Nottingham park

A dog walker from Nottingham had the shock of his life when a branch he thought looked like a snake turned out to be exactly that - a six-foot boa imperator snake.

The reptile, which is usually found in the jungles of Brazil, was sunbathing on the gravel path in Colwick Park at around 4pm on Thursday 18 July when it was spotted by local man Sean Dirrane.

Sean had been out for a stroll with his one-year-old Springer Spaniel-Border Collie cross Bow when he stumbled upon the unlikely spectacle.

"I thought it might have been a prank"

Mr Dirrane said: "It was 24 degrees - boiling - so I was walking Bow in the wooded area where it's shaded.

"He's off lead going off sniffing in bushes and stuff like that. As I was coming round the corner I thought 'that branch in the path there looks awfully like a snake'. Then as I walked closer I realised 'oh no. It is a snake'.

"It didn't move. It was completely still. In the photograph, with its head up - that's how it was when I came across it and that's how it stayed. As I approached I didn't want to get too near.

"I thought it might have been a prank - that some kids might have put a prop there. I was looking for sticks so I could throw one to see if it would move.

"Finally it bobbed its head down and I was in sheer panic. I called Bow back - luckily he didn't see it - and got him back on the lead. It was panic stations. I didn't know what to do."

With no-one else around, Mr Dirrane tried to ring the local council to get in touch with a park ranger but had no luck. He rang police on 101 - and said he had to get the receiver to believe him at first.

"It was a pretty odd call to be making," he said. "I gave her the what3words location and luckily the snake didn't move while I waited around for 20 minutes for the officers to arrive.

"It's a heavily vegetated area so if it had gone into the bushes I don't think they would've found it.

"I don't know what the procedure would've been for hobbling around bushes to find a six-foot snake. I wouldn't have liked to be doing it."

When the police arrived, Sean says he had to alert one of the officers who himself walked up to the silent serpent without realising it was there.

A spokesperson for Nottinghamshire Police said: "Police and RSPCA colleagues were called into action after a report of a six-foot long snake was spotted slithering along a footpath in Colwick Country Park.

The snake, believed to be a non-venomous Boa Imperator, was encountered shortly before 4pm on Thursday (18 July 2024).

"A local reptile centre, which was alerted to the surprise discovery, attended and safely recovered the snake."

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