A good day for Slowworms

Ok, it wasn't hundreds but 2 new sites for them.    My friend(who surveys with me) and I have allotment plots on the same site.    There's a big mound of 'help yourself' soil conditioner.   Since there's not many people currently on site, we decided to use the mound to grow some extra potatoes.

I was digging up the last plant when not only I dug up potatoes but this as well:


A nice surprise and she was unharmed by the fork.

One of the few plot holders decided to use the only decent tap to water here plot(another reason why we were there) so we decided to take a little wander.

Not too far from the allotmentsis what I can best describe as rough  scrub and parkland.  There's a stream nearby, plenty of long grass, good basking spots and lots of thick bramble bushes.   There's a good chance it could support 4 of our 6 reptiles. 

 Scattered around part of this site is bits of old carrugated iron- some tin sized(which I moved to what I deemed more suitable locations on a previous visit).  Also there is very lengths of wood and a few other bits of junk.  After lifting a few bits of 'tin' we found the first of 5 Af, which were 4 adults and 1 juvenile.  

2 of the adults were under the same bit of narrow but lengthy bit of wood.  Here's one of the females:


Now I know there's reptiles on the allotment I shall be putting down refugia at certain points of the site.    Off topic, but at work today I found 1 Viv Lizard, now I know where to look, I'll be back at the same place tomorrow to try and get a pic.    I know the photos aren't the best of quality, this is due to me using a camera phone - Af, being the first piccies on that phone.

Mark

Good to hear about the Slowies in your garden Suzi.  Obviously, the compost heaps are ideal for them if they are breeding, plus the heaps attract insects and such so its a ready made food source.  I have none in mine, but I'm right in the centre of a town so I'm not too surprised.


At work yesterday, a search under various bits of junk yielded 3 slowies(another new site).  In the evening I went with my friend to check another Slowie site, 3 were found, including a juvenile under a discarded computer tower case.      A brief look at a known Adder site nearby yielded a female Vb which darted in to cover and a male Af with a stumpy tale nearby under a log.

Mark

Hi suzi

As I have mentioned before I used to live in Torquay and I can remember when I was about 10 I was looking on this grass bank for slow worms and common lizards when I saw what looked like a large stick,I went to move it when it moved itself and so did the rest of the bank with it.I know everything looks bigger when you are young but I was used to handling lizards and slow worms but this looked massive and frightened the life out of me.I am not proud to say but I ran away,when I had the courage to go back it had gone.As best as I can remember it looked like a huge slow worm but it was probably a grassie.Now being a young kid I had explored this area really well and there was no water of any description anywhere,so was it a grassie or could it have been something else.

Cheers

Ray

I had a call from my friend whilst I was at work. He checked the tins on the site close to the allotments.  He found 2 slowies and new to the site, a Grass Snake.   No photos but I'm sure they'll be other opportunities.

Mark