Last sunday I went herping in Helsinki. I went to a place in the outskirts of the city, where fellow forum member Joel had found some adders last year, including a gorgeous, black specimen.
After arriving at the site and couple of minutes of looking around, I saw this:
The snakes disappeared very fast, so I sat still and waited. One of them came back within a few minutes.
I was more interested in the black one, however.
After a long time of waiting, my patience was finally rewarded. The black one appeared, and revealed his true identity...
This was a lucky surprise I did not expect! The grass snake is not common at all in Helsinki, not to mention a color variety like this!