Wildlife checks into the hotel

Yesterday I was sitting on the seat above my wildlife hotel when I noticed a slow worm gliding out from under a nearby geranium. It then made a sharpish left turn and slid under the seat. Magic!

I ambled off to get my camera (these reptiles live up to their name when it comes to speed). Not brilliant pictures I’m afraid but it’s great to see something making use of the facilities. I think they are beautiful.

Of course they are neither worms or snakes but legless lizards. You can tell it’s a lizard because, unlike a snake, it has eyelids. Mine, of course, refused to blink for the camera. I’m guessing this is a male as females have darker sides and a dark stripe running along the back. They feed on slugs, snails, earthworms, spiders and various small insects. I’ve been getting worried as we’ve had these lizards in our compost heaps for years but this year when turning and emptying the heaps we didn’t see a single one.

A few years ago I saw 17 of them lying on top of our compost heap, under the carpet covering the surface. Unfortunately that was before I had my digital camera. It was eerie the way they noiselessly untangled and disappeared by sliding deeper into the heap. I expect they were quite miffed at being disturbed