By Susanne Masters
Seeing a fish out of water makes it hard to realise it is a fish. Walking the dog early enough for dew to be fresh on the grass around Lake Virginia Water, I saw a huge snake slide across the path. Too big to be one of our native snakes and with a ridge along its back, I realised it was an eel. For eels on a mission a short stretch of damp grass can be a pathway.
Although I often saw eels while sitting on a riverbank looking into the water, it was years before I met an eel in its element. Duck diving down and swimming along a riverbed is how I came face to face with an eel winding its way through the waterweeds. In autumn, the Sargasso Sea’s siren call draws maturing European Eels (Anguilla anguilla) from Europe back to their birthplace.
I CAME FACE TO FACE WITH AN EEL WINDING ITS WAY THROUGH THE WATERWEEDS