Despite all appearances, our slow worm (Anguis fragilis) is neither a worm or a snake and they are actually a legless lizard. Some key differences are slow worm have moveable eyelids, and can blink, they have a more cylindrical and uniform body with a less distinct head and slow worms can also drop their trails as a defence mechanism. The males are usually brown, grey or bronze (sometimes with beautiful blue spots) and the females are brown, typically with a darker brown stripe running down their back with sides often darker. They are not venomous and completely harmless to people.
They are found across the UK, except for Ireland and favour damp, sheltered areas. You can expect to find them in gardens and allotments, woodland edges and hedgerows, grasslands and heathlands and in compost heaps and log piles.
Their diet is mainly slugs, worms and insects – making them beneficial for your garden. They are ambush hunters, waiting for their prey to come close before striking.
As with all of our native reptiles the slow worm are under threat from habitat destruction, predation from domestic cats, birds of prey, road mortality and pesticides reducing prey availability. There are many things you can do to help the slow worm.
Provide suitable habitat – Creating log piles, rock piles and compost heaps, for warm, damp and sheltered spaces for them.
Leave areas of long grass and leaf litter – Providing cover from predators and a good hunting ground for slugs and insects.
Avoid using slug pellets and pesticides – Slow worms reply on slugs, snails and insects for food. Many pellets contain metaldehyde, which is toxic to reptiles.
Check before mowing or strimming – Slow worms will often bask in long grass or under vegetation, many are injured or killed by garden tools.
Create safe corridors – Maintaining hedgerows, wildflower borders and connected green spaces gives area which slow worms can move between safely.
Building a slow worm friendly compost heap – Compost heaps attract slugs and create a warm microhabitat, which are perfect for slow worms. Keep one side open or with a small entrance at the base so they can enter and leave safely.
If you wish to be more involved, please report sightings of slow worms on our website or better yet, join HIWARG and become a reptile surveyor, to help us monitor their populations and better advise land managers.
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