My friend Rob sent me this picture from his garden in Kent. A Slow worm. Not a worm, or a snake, but a lizard! I used to see them all the time when I lived in Kent but not since, so I would be interested to learn more of their distribution. Please let me know if you have them in your garden, and where that is!
Rob has given you a load of facts about them:
Here goes:
1. They are lizards not snakes because they can blink.
2. They are protected in the UK.
3. They live everywhere in Europe except Ireland, but some may have been introduced there illegally.
4. They like to burrow.
5. They can live for up to 30 yrs in the wild. The record was 54 yrs in captivity.
6. They eat insects and slugs so are good for gardeners.
7. They can shed their tail to escape predators. But have little defence against cats.
8. They can grow up to 50 cm long. We've seen 3 now. One big, one medium sized and this little one about 10 cm... All in the same garden!
Thank you Rob!
