UK "snake" ID (1 Viewer)

Attached are a few photos of what I am fairly sure is a small snake that was just brought up to my patio by one of my cats! My first thought was that she had brought me a worm - which she has never done in the past - but on closer inspection it wasn't moving like a worm and the head looked snakelike.

The photos were taken against the patio & with keeping the cat off the snake I didn't think to put something down as a size indicator - sorry. It was lighter on top than underneath, based on what I saw - I didn't handle it that much to study it really.

It had a mark down each "cheek" and a slight crown stripe (sorry, I don't know the right terminology for snakes).

It is, err, how shall I say this, "unnaturally terminated" in length by the look of it but what was wriggling around on the patio was maybe 15-20cm long and about the thickness of a decent shoelace, perhaps as thick as a pen/pencil.

Can anyone shed any light as to what it was?
TIA

Not a snake but a legless lizard ~ a Slow Worm :t: How lovely to see one...I've yet to see my first here in Northumberland.

Edited to add: they'll cast their tail to escape predators. Apparently the tail section will wriggle like crazy to distract the predator whilst the rest of the lizard makes it's escape. I'm definitely NOT showing my cats this....little tinkers bring in live Wood Mice and Shrews which they then leave alive to escape in my bedroom!!! Took me three days to catch the last mouse!

Thanks :t:

I posted here then Googled - had I done that the other way round I would have realised it was a Slow Worm. Ah well! Nice to get confirmation though.

It's the first one I have ever seen - and even then it wasn't a full sighting given the poor thing's condition. :C

Gill Osborne said:

Edited to add: they'll cast their tail to escape predators. Apparently the tail section will wriggle like crazy to distract the predator whilst the rest of the lizard makes it's escape.

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Ahh, interesting. Trust my cat to get the "wrong" end - at least as far as the Slow Worm is concerned!

I'm definitely NOT showing my cats this....little tinkers bring in live Wood Mice and Shrews which they then leave alive to escape in my bedroom!!! Took me three days to catch the last mouse!

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One of my cats must have brought a live mouse in at some point last year I think it was. We knew nothing of it till this little mous crept out into the middle of the living room one evening while we were watching TV. It just sat there in the middle of the floor looking around. Looked like it had crept out from under the sofa where the missus was sitting :-O :-O