One lucky photographer captured rare footage of two adders mating near Borth.
The ritual, rarely caught on camera, was then made all the more remarkable by a third adder interrupting the process and causing a fight.
Two more young males then turned up after Simon had stopped filming, joining the brawl.
The photographer said: “I went to Cors Fochno for a walk and had such an amazing experience and a once in a lifetime encounter.
“I watched a couple of adders mating and then three young adders being scared away as they attempted to interrupt the ritual.
“I had to stop filming as one was being chased right in my direction.
“It felt like a movie set from Indiana Jones with snakes slithering in all directions, I was amazed at how fast they can move.
“My pulse was certainly racing knowing that they’re the only venomous snakes in the UK.”
Spring is mating season, when males perform a ‘dance’ in which they duel other competing males to win the affections of a female adder.
The females will then incubate the eggs internally before producing between three and twenty live young.
Adders, also known as Common European Vipers, are known to frequent Borth and Ynyslas beach.
After hibernating over winter, adders can usually be spotted in early March sitting on a log or warm rock.
The first adders were spotted in early March this year, including one found sunbathing on a west-facing house on Borth High Street.
They are known to like woodland, heathlands and moorlands, existing on a diet of small mammals, including ground-nesting birds.
They are the UK’s only venomous snakes, though they are rarely dangerous to humans.