One of the benefits of No Mow May in my own garden has been to provide a habitat for the slow worm. We were excited to spot one on a sunny May morning, basking in some warmth before sliding off into our long grass.
The slow worm is one of the UK's 6 native reptiles, the others being the common lizard, sand lizard, grass snake, adder and smooth snake. Contrary to appearances (and its name!), the slow worm is neither a snake nor a worm, but in fact is a legless lizard. Snakes don't have eyelids whereas lizards do, so you can tell a slow worm is a lizard by seeing it blink.
Slow worm Anguis fragilis
Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)
Slow worms are on the menu for many animals, including adders, hedgehogs, badgers, magpies and lots of other birds. All too often they can unfortunately also be the victim of pet cats. They have developed several clever defence mechanisms, including freezing still or fleeing fast (despite their name, they can move pretty quickly when required!) Another less pleasant defence is to produce a particularly smelly and sticky excrement, which is thought to be stinky enough to scare off some predators! Finally, if a slow worm does get caught, it is able to remove its own tail in order to survive! The tail continues wiggling, hopefully distracting the would-be predator and allowing the slow worm to make its escape. Sometimes you can see stumpy slow worms who have used their emergency escape trick. Whilst the tail does regrow, it is no longer detachable.
It's a busy time for slow worms now as the mating season for slow worms kicks off in May. At this time, the males can become aggressive towards each other. During courtship, the male takes hold of the female by biting her head or neck, and they intertwine their bodies. Courtship may last for as long as 10 hours! Females incubate the eggs internally, 'giving birth' to an average of eight young in the summer.
Slow worms are a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981, so we need to do what we can to help them in our gardens (though you're unlikely to see one if you have a cat). The main way we can help them is by providing suitable habitats, such as the long grass mentioned above. hey like sheltering under large stones or logs, and compost heaps are a particular favourite. Slow worms are often found in and around the compost heaps 'behind the scenes' at Flatford Wildlife Garden. So if you do have a compost heap, take care when you disturb or turn it, especially in the summer when there may be young slow worms around. You could even go one step further and construct a slow worm shelter with some corrugated roofing.
Back at Flatford Wildlife Garden, there is plenty going on! The blue tit chicks are now over two weeks old and should be fledging any day. They can be seen on our nest camera in full colour glory!