Blindworms

This is one of the old country names for slow worms, which are of course not worms at all, but snake-like legless lizards.  The slow worm is I think the commonest reptile in the UK, but even so I've only rarely seen them.  They are not snakes - like other lizards, they have eyelids, visible ear ducts and the ability to shed their tails if grabbed by a predator.  Nor are they blind, but they love dark and secret places, and will often shrink backwards into dark crevices when disturbed, so I can see how the "blindworm" name came about.

I was lucky enough to come across two baby slow worms today when weeding a flower border.  The garden I was weeding backs on to the old grassland of the Powis Castle estate, and the tiny slow worms, only about three inches long apiece, were hiding under an old piece of wood.  Baby slow worms actually look a little more snake- like than the adults, as the shape of the head is more clearly visible.  These were a gentle buff colour, perhaps just slightly greenish, with a darker brown stripe along the length of the body.

I love gardening, and today was - well, maybe on the hot side, but otherwise a lovely day to be doing it.  I enjoy weeding and I'm quite good at it, too.  This stands me in good stead, as so many gardeners either hate weeding or have no idea how to do it, or what to take and what to leave.  So I get to weed some gardens in which other folk do things like lawns and hedges that, frankly, are a bit of a bore . . . and people are prepared to pay me to spend pleasant hours in the sun surrounded by birdsong and encountering fascinating creatures like slow worms.

While I don't think this blog is going to become just a nature diary, I suspect that, now I've started up again, rather more of my entries than before will have a wildlife content to them.