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a'd a bite

Hello everyone,

I wrote this for colleagues at Essex Wildlife Trust,  I hope it is useful
for you too.

.....

'Behold I have given you authority to tread on serpents.. '

... but not in sandals.

Right, not a time for jokes so ignore the reference above. I am writing
this before the throbbing of my right big toe gets better and my
description turns into a jolly anecdote.

I very much like snakes, the adders at Holland Pits and Colne Point
included. I am good at spotting them in the spring and have told many
accounts of how they hear the rustling of grass as people approach, unless
they are particularly quiet, and how adder bites tend not to be very
serious.

I went to Great Holland Pits last Saturday afternoon, in order to collect
tents, tables and calor gas for the open day at Howlands Marsh.  It was not
an activity that made me think of changing from open-toed sandals into
stout shoes on this warm afternoon.  I took a walk around with a colleague
after the intended business was complete and discovered a newly fallen
thick stem of ivy across a piece of scrub.

I stepped over it, as my friend noticed an adder.  I only caught a fleeting
glimpse.  However I felt a sensation in my big toe.  I asked how close the
snake had been to my foot but he wasn't sure.  I thought that the twinge
could have been caused by a protruding blackthorn, and in any case believed
it to be no big deal even if it had been an adder.  I eventually made to go
home.  I looked at my toe and noticed a single tiny puncture mark, and
decided to call into the minor injuries unit at Clacton Hospital.

Their view was that I had not had a snake bite as there was no sign of
blackening of the skin, but they took a reading of my blood pressure which
they said was a rather low, so they decided to send me to Colchester
Hospital.

Tests were done which all returned acceptable results, and my blood
pressure had started to become more normal. However the puncture mark had
started to blacken and I noticed stiffness in the muscles of the leg and
right elbow, and it was then that I started to feel ill.  I had a bout of
diarrhoea and sickness, but after the blood test results, I was discharged
and given a course of antibiotics.

I felt very tired and stepped straight into bed when I got home. I felt
fine the next day.

Three days on my foot was swollen and painful, so I decided to seek some
more medical attention.  The hospital decided to treat me with intravenous
antibiotics and I spent two nights in the hospital.

The incident will not stifle my interest and enthusiasm for Adders.
Familiarity with them had not bred contempt but rather complacency.  I will
not be wearing sandals on either reserve again!

A true story

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