Ruth Langsford dices with danger by 'mistaking snake for long worm' as it thrashes around

express.co.uk:

Loose Women star Ruth Langsford approached what she thought was a “very long worm” while out walking her dog today, before realising it was actually most likely to be a snake.The presenter remained calm as she filmed the animal wildly thrashing around.Ruth, 62, took to social media today to share the evidence of her dangerous day out with her one million Instagram followers.Showing the pale orange creature slither across the path, she wrote: “Just as I was thinking…“That’s a VERY long worm…”In the next clip, Ruth filmed the snake thrashing around manically, adding: “It did this!!!!”“Gotta be some kind of snake surely?!” she asked her followers.Earlier today, the ITV star filmed her little black dog Maggie trotting along the pavement.“Morning walk with Maggie,” she penned cheerily. “Getting my steps in early!”The next video showed a “beautiful rhododendron” bush with purple flowers.“Listen to that birdsong!” Ruth wrote as the chirping of birds good be heard coming out of it.However, the walk clearly took a turn when the presenter and her dog encountered the reptile.According to the Wildlife Trusts, there are three species of snake native to the UK.These species include grass snake, adder and smooth snake.The adder is the only venomous snake in Britain, identifiable by its greyish scales with a dark and very distinct zig-zag pattern down its back, and a red eye.Meanwhile, grass snakes tend to be green in colour and are our longest snakes, growing up to 150 cm.A smaller snake with a similar appearance to the adder, has a more slender body and a less well-formed dark pattern on its back.However, it is also possible that the animal Ruth faced on her walk was not a snake at all.