Print Page | Close Window

2019 Slow worms

Printed From: Reptiles and Amphibians of the UK
Category: Herpetofauna Native to the UK
Forum Name: Slow Worm
Forum Description: Forum for all issues concerning Anguis fragilis
URL: http://www.herpetofauna.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5282
Printed Date: 28 Mar 2024 at 8:22am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.06 - http://www.webwizforums.com


Topic: 2019 Slow worms
Posted By: Suzy
Subject: 2019 Slow worms
Date Posted: 23 Feb 2019 at 12:51pm
Everything is waking up on this sunny warm day (15degC) in East Devon. Already seen several Brimstones, a Comma and Peacock butterflies in the garden.
I checked on the covers and found this...



Then peeled the plastic off one of the compost heaps and found about ten adults...here's a couple...




-------------
Suz



Replies:
Posted By: Liz Heard
Date Posted: 24 Feb 2019 at 5:06pm
Wow, brilliant Suzi. The full range too; what looks like one of last year's young, plus an adult male and female together

Next you'll be telling us you've heard a cuckoo as well!

I'm going to have to move 'slow worm central' (the compost heap) as the new neighbours have put a bloody great shed up which means it's not getting much direct sunlight now. . Quite a task as it's about 1.5 x 1.5 x 1 m.

I've been regularly checking under the plastic sheeting covering it anyway but alas no shiny slow worms so far.


Posted By: Suzy
Date Posted: 24 Feb 2019 at 8:39pm
No cuckoos yet Ben, maybe later this week Wink
I have looked under the covers a few days when it's been sunny, but the very warm day now seems to have brought them out. I didn't look today  - which was n even better day.
Sorry about your compost heap getting overshadowed. We are getting that with a neighbours' conifers which have both got huge. They did seem to top them for several years but now they're massive. They also cast shade over our veg garden to some extent. I would pay for them to be removed! Our compost heaps where those slowies are lose several hours sun because of the shade from their trees.



-------------
Suz


Posted By: GemmaJF
Date Posted: 28 Feb 2019 at 11:18am
Lovely to see Suz. We've had one large male slow worm this year I've seen a couple of times under a sheet on the compost heap, two or three adult common lizards on felts in the lovely weather we had this week. Think activity is still a little low because despite the very warm day time temperatures we are still getting frosts over night.

Good luck with the compost move Ben, was a time I wouldn't think much of moving or turning compost, these days though it is a daunting task. We might move ours soon, it is getting really decrepit and it would be easier to build a new one in a clear space then move the compost to it.





Posted By: Suzy
Date Posted: 28 Feb 2019 at 11:48am
Lucky you with the lizards Gemma. I've looked to see if our (one?) is about, but no signs. Yes the days are warm, but nights frosty. However all change today with rain and promise of more days of it. Still it is mild and frog activity in two ponds.

-------------
Suz


Posted By: GemmaJF
Date Posted: 28 Feb 2019 at 6:36pm
Yep rain arrived here this afternoon, quite heavy for a time. Cooler but mild for the end of February. Can't complain about the rain, first year ever we had to top up the pond at this time of year, it is usually brimming over. This year though, I can only think of one other day it rained here in the past two months!


Posted By: chubsta
Date Posted: 08 Apr 2019 at 4:47pm
First one of the year for me - nor a particularly nice day, misty but still, temperatures around 12degrees.



Quite a handsome frog too - 




Posted By: Suzy
Date Posted: 08 Apr 2019 at 11:17pm
Dim cooler days are often best for finding slowies under covers as they try to warm up.

-------------
Suz


Posted By: Liz Heard
Date Posted: 13 Apr 2019 at 9:55am
Very nice Chubsta.

Though i've been scanning the ground and flipping likely-looking objects while i've been out and about, so far the only slow worms i've seen have been in the garden.


Posted By: TheHabitatGardener
Date Posted: 16 Apr 2019 at 6:07am
Lovely to see! Thanks for sharing chubsta 👍🏼


Posted By: chubsta
Date Posted: 18 Apr 2019 at 6:03am
Another couple in the garden waste pile today, oddly I am only seeing them in the more sheltered part of the garden whereas the sheet which is in sunlight for most of the day hasn't given anything up at all yet.


Posted By: Liz Heard
Date Posted: 17 May 2019 at 12:22am
It must be love....                         

Under this (herpy-themed) kiddies sand pit today....                                                                      

                                                                                                                   
       

... .were these two (plus a couple of last year's young)...                                   
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       


Posted By: Suzy
Date Posted: 17 May 2019 at 11:09pm
Neat Ben!
We've had a few killed by cats here this week. Not sure they were caught in my garden, but the cats hang around here if I don't shoo them off. 


-------------
Suz


Posted By: chubsta
Date Posted: 18 May 2019 at 6:08am
Nice! Are the two different colours indicative of male and female, I know very little...

Quite a few here at the moment under the cover each time I look, usually about 6 of different sizes, including just a few inches, so very pleased.


Posted By: Liz Heard
Date Posted: 23 May 2019 at 6:27pm
More often than not you can tell by the markings yes, but perhaps the best way is by looking at the size and shape of the head - much longer and larger in the male.
Males tend to be more uniform in colour, usually greyish or silvery with a blue belly, whereas females are typically brown or bronze with dark flanks and often with a thin dorsal stripe. The belly is much darker too.


Posted By: Liz Heard
Date Posted: 23 May 2019 at 6:59pm
Only May and this pond's getting choked already. First time i've seen a slow worm in (or rather on) it though....



Posted By: Liz Heard
Date Posted: 03 Nov 2019 at 6:56pm

Not expecting to see anything i lifted the plastic off the top of the compost heap around 5.30 this afternoon and as i was bunging some fruit scraps in i spotted a solitary adult slow worm.
However, in far too much of a hurry and pointing the camera in very dim light, i'm afraid i got the resultant Loch Ness monster/Bigfoot quality of photo!

Didn't get a good look at it but a female i think. This late, i would have thought juvenile(s) more likely than an adult.


Any updates from where you are Suzi, Chubsta, anyone...??


Posted By: chubsta
Date Posted: 04 Nov 2019 at 5:59am
Checked mine yesterday with none sighted at all, not really surprising though as the weather turned very cold last week with the first overnight frosts. 

One nice thing is that I was speaking to a neighbour about hedgehogs a couple of days ago and he said he has had to stop turning over his compost heap because it is 'full of slow worms'!


Posted By: Suzy
Date Posted: 04 Nov 2019 at 3:38pm
We've had a lot of dim and wet days, not the best at this end of the year for slowies under covers here. If we get some sun and I'm around I will have a look. Like Chubsta's neighbour I suspect there are plenty hidden!

-------------
Suz


Posted By: Suzy
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2019 at 1:40pm
We had a short burst of sun here in East Devon this morning so I went out to inspect my covers. Found one small slowie, which I think would be a young of last year.

-------------
Suz


Posted By: chubsta
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2019 at 10:44pm
Checked again today as it was a little warmer but just one juvenile frog. My covers don't see the sun at all this time of year so I may put some down in a different area next Spring


Posted By: Suzy
Date Posted: 07 Nov 2019 at 2:28pm
I had a look under the covers again this morning as it was sunny. This is the same one that I saw yesterday, and in the same position. No more seen.




A while later I peeled back the black plastic on a compost heap and discovered this palmate newt.



I photographed it from underneath the glass jar to show some of its spots.






-------------
Suz


Posted By: Suzy
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2019 at 5:44pm
A lovely sunny day but temps mainly in single figures. The same slowie under its cover and another of same size under another cover.

-------------
Suz


Posted By: Suzy
Date Posted: 17 Nov 2019 at 1:26pm
The same two slowies as the 8th November seen again yesterday.

-------------
Suz



Print Page | Close Window

Forum Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 11.06 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Copyright ©2001-2016 Web Wiz Ltd. - https://www.webwiz.co.uk