Snake in swimming pool - what was it?

[Kitty]

I am trying to identify a snake.  Six inches long, it was thin and greeny brown.  It's head was much wider than its body.  It had a 'V' shaped mark on its neck in yellow and black.

I was swimming in a friend's pool this afternoon when my 13 year old son spotted it swimming exceedingly fast.  At first, I thought that it was a slow worm.  I was going to get it out with a flip flop and then realised that it was something like a viper.  It was all a bit surreal because, as soon I thought that it could be a poisonous snake, it started following me in the pool.  My son was getting really distressed that I was going to get bitten because it was moving towards me quicker than I could swim.

My friend managed to catch it in a net and release it into the scrub.

But what was it? I have looked on the Internet, including Chris P's Planet Passion website.

Do baby snakes not have the same markings as adults?  I can't identify it because it did not have zig zags on its body.

[HoneySuckleDreams]

was it this

 

 

this is a young one:

 

[Kitty]

Amazing.  This is very, very similar.  I have just shown it to my son.  The head was wider and the pattern on the neck was more 'V' shaped.  The body is spot on.

[Théière]

A grass snake, they are excellent swimmers, love water and harmless to us. The yellow collar is the give away, vipers do have a black V but they have a diamond pattern in black down their backs.

[Kitty]

Thanks one and all.  It was a good swimmer and very fast in the water.  I shall tell the owner of the swimming pool.

I spend a lot of time in that pool rescuing little beasts - grasshoppers, flies, spiders etc.  I get a pile of leaves and help them into them, letting them dry out on the side of the pool.