Slow worm (Anguis fragilis), or legless lizard. A first for my wildlife garden.
Slow worm (Anguis fragilis) Watch out slugs, here I come!
Today I saw something moving on one of two steps which lead to my garden. Lo and behold it was a slow worm, a first for my wildlife garden. I could see it was trying to climb the step to get back to the garden where it probably came from and where there was ample cover. If it went down the step it would only reach the flagged patio. I coaxed it into a cardboard box and placed it in my wildflower meadow.
Although the slow worm may look like a snake, it is in fact a harmless legless lizard!! It really is a gardener’s friend feasting upon slugs and insect pests, which is great for an organic gardener! It likely came from a local nature reserve where it is known they can be found. A booklet, Amphibians and Reptiles of Risley Moss, by Rob Smith, a local environmentalist, has been published, for a small sum and is available by contacting their email: contact@rimag.org.uk Rob has also written a book Birds of Risley Moss.
This and the fact I had a hedgehog last night in the garden has made my day!
Slow worm. Brilliant!
I remember seeing slow worms born in a vivarium when I was very young – about 1954. May be unrelated, and the circumstances are lost to time, but my father had found a slow worm with distinctive blue-ish marking on its back. Goodness knows why, but we visited Maxwell Knight in Camberley Surrey in his house, in relation to this blue one. I remember a very big man with white hair and a big nose, and gentle in manner.