snakes alive!

I bumped into our old allotment neighbours yesterday, and they were tell me how they'd had an adder in their allotment.  We've had one down there, but ours was quite friendly and was basking on the compost heap.  Theirs was trapped in some netting and so was very very angry.  My poor old friends only had a stanley knife available to try and rescue it, and it was obviously very frightened and got very nasty - Not sure if Adders can bite?  but I'd have been terrified even if they can't/  At one point it "played dead", went very still and let off a horrible rotting smell, which is probably just as scarey as it being angry.  And when they eventually let it go?  it slithered off and got stuck in the netting on the other side......

And to think I'd been such a drama queen when I discovered a wasps nest in the box that protects the water tap!