A New Life In The Garden

A shriek from my granddaughter, gardening on the rockery, “I’ve found a baby slow worm,” sent us rushing to see.

If you don’t have slow worms in your country, you may wonder what they are. They are not slow, worms or snakes. They are perfectly harmless, legless lizards, able to drop their tails if you try to catch one. Left alone, they can grow up to 19 inches long and live for 30 years or more.

My garden is semi-wild, offering long grass, compost heaps, and rocky areas. The numerous slow worms are a bonus: they eat every slug they can find.

Despite the numbers, we had never seen a baby. This two inches long cutie played dead while we were close.

We watched from a distance until he felt safe and raced for the cover of a plant.

I smiled all afternoon.