Banburyshire man discovers snake while out on charity run

James Halstead, from Tysoe, discovered the snake along the road to the village of Brailes just outside Tysoe.

James took to social media and posted a message with a picture of the snake in the Tysoe village Facebook page, which said: "This snake is by the side of the road on the way out to Brailes - just at the bottom of Windmill Hill. Do we have wild grass snakes this large?"

The photo garnered nearly 20 comments on Facebook.

James added: "I was doing part (10km run) of a work charity challenge - run 100km in June, set up by colleagues at Jaguar Land Rover."

James and his colleagues at work at JLR are taking part in a charity run to benefit the mental health charity Mind (https://www.mind.org.uk/donate/).

When James came across the snake on his run he wasn't sure what to do so he phoned the RSPCA.

He added: "But then before I carried on my run, I gently moved it with a leaf and I could see it was dead, unfortunately.

"I was concerned it was a pet as I'd never seen a wild snake - this was about 80cm long.

"I was just glad we have such great biodiversity in this area!"