A tree snake slithered across a moving car's windscreen as the driver and his friends screamed in panic inside.

Footage shows the serpent swaying like a window wiper on the glass as it tried to find a way inside in Cagayan de Oro City, the Philippines, on January 31.

The reptile was later released onto an empty patch of land when the vehicle pulled over.

Driver Mark Joseph Sara said: 'My colleagues and I were heading to the hospital to visit a friend. We were on the road and the snake appeared out of nowhere.'

'We were frightened and shouting. I tried to keep my confidence and took a video of the snake. We arrived safely at our destination and stopped then it jumped of.'

The Philippine bronze-back tree snakes are slender arboreal snakes that are typically olive to brownish bronze in colour with a metallic sheen. Their underside is pale yellow or white.