almost put a spade through this fellow!
piccy below! (had to remove it as it was Huuuuuuuge)
Excellent photo. Beautiful creatures aren't they? I had one in my wheelbarrow the other week, think it had been sleeping under some old rubbish and accidentally got picked up when I was having a clear out. My two daughters were fascinated by it and wanted to keep it as a pet (no I didn't let them).
Cheers,
Rob ;)
(http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y31/GREENWIZARD/slowworm.jpg)
i've resized your pic hope you don't mind
i've never seen one before
thanks for posting :)
Oh that brings back memories. As kids we used to have a paving slab by the swimming pool and it was our party piece to lift it up and show our friends the slow worms underneath, usually about 5 or 6. I loved picking them up but our friends wouldn't touch them ;D We got quite a reputation in school for handling 'dangerous snakes' ( we petended the were ;D)
yes sorry, did'nt realise how big the photo would appear - bit of a technodunce
was at home digging a new vegtable bed (not at the lotty for once) when this gorgeous thing dropped out of a clump of grass that i had literally used the spade to pull up. Thought it was a very big worm at first then the realisation came home what it was i was thrilled; picked it up and came rushing up to the house yelling at my wife to get the camera!!! she was not so enamoured but i eventually coerced her to give it a stroke ;D
I put it back after holding it for a few minutes and off it went
I am still chuffed to bits to know they are there, not bad for 15 miles from the centre of London :o
Only moved in in Feb, and so far seen loads of frogs, woodpeckers, jays, the resident fox, squirrels, wrens, tits and other songbirds - quite lucky really
David - if you DELETE your first photo, the rest will be readable. At the moment it's a pain!
it's some kind of snake, right? i have never seen them before...
PS: i agree with tim, please delete the first image - you are breaking the board ;)
oops sorry - cant delete the 1st in the topic :-[
hopefully Dans watching.....
Quote from: Svea on May 05, 2006, 10:12:31
it's some kind of snake, right? i have never seen them before...
PS: i agree with tim, please delete the first image - you are breaking the board ;)
Its not a snake, its a leg-less lizard,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_worm
Quote from: David R on May 05, 2006, 12:43:55
oops sorry - cant delete the 1st in the topic :-[
hopefully Dans watching.....
Edit your post and just delete the image with some pointer to it appearing below.
Fantastic picture by the way of a creature that has alluded me so far - the adder that bit me didn't though ;D
David - you can, actually - by going to the 'delete' thingy which I can't look up at the moment - but, meanwhile, you can go to 'modify' - 'additional options' - uncheck your photo & voila!!
Thanks Tim! ;)
How about that, then!!
That's a young one; the adults are darker brown. They're legless lizards with the common lizard habit of shedding their tails. It's easy to tell if you look at their bellies; snakes have large scales which go right across the belly, while these have the same small scales as on their backs.
sorry, beautiful as he might be i'd have screamed and run. i only got a glimpse of the photo as i scrolled past it double quick.
i'm just about getting used to little worms. think it's going to take me some time to progress onto legless lizards.
::)
Aren't they gorgeous! We get them regularly on our site and the kids love them. So shiny and silky! We also get grass snakes and adders - have now seen both, along with newts and lizards. I am always astounded when I come across things like this, you know, you take things for granted and forget about the critters that live out there in the wilds. Great photo! Fabulous.
Rather like the look of tht fella :) I have never seen one. Cracking photo.
Lorna
ok, here's another photo
Let ME have a look Dad!! :)
If I had one I'd make a nest for it in my pocket. :D It's beautiful (as is the other little creature you've got there) ;D
It's fab! Not ever seen one :(
Never seen a live one, only photos, now foxes are a different matter... don't leave your mobile unattended on the plot....
:)
I have done some research on them and found that the Kent Reptile and Amphibian Group are the experts. Make sure that your Council is aware of them as it increases the ecological value of the site (and hopefully protects it!).
The Herpetological Conservation http://www.herpconstrust.org.uk/ (http://www.herpconstrust.org.uk/) Trust were also quite helpful and logged my sighting. Is that enough big words yet?
The one in the photo looks like a fully grown adult and will help to keep the slug population down.
Now why does describing anything as a legless lizard make me laugh?..........
OC
I found a shedded skin near my pond by the rocks. Could this have been a slow worm. it was about 15 inches long.
Is it good to have them in your garden.
My neighbour saw a "snake"!!!!!!!!!!!! in her garden around the same time last summer and wanted her son in law to get rid of it. i like the idea of wild life in the garden and try and encourage as many different species as possible by providing lots of different habitats.
Can anyone tell me what is good or bad about a slow worm. I will pass the info on to my neighbour.
They live largely on slugs.
Fantastic. i hope mine is still in the garden this year. they are lovely.
MrsKP, you can't really see how pretty they are in the picture - I'm sure you wouldn't scream and run, as they have such attractive faces (unlike snakes, which look like my Grandma Davies but spit less venom). ;)