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| © David Gill 2024 |
Some years ago we were delighted to find an Elephant Hawk-moth caterpillar very close to our home. This afternoon we discovered an adult moth in our long grass, in close proximity to the anthill where we found the Slow worm only yesterday. Another entry for our home patch list of species.
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| My photo ... to give an impression of the long grass location |
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| Larval stage, my photo taken close to home, 2021 |
Not the best photograph, but never mind.
There was a hush of great excitement this afternoon when this beautiful Slow worm was seen draping herself over a large anthill in the long grass in our wild garden.
We have seen Common lizards before on rare occasions and a single Grass snake last summer, but this was an exciting first for us. The black stripe over brown scales suggests a female. Slow worms are neither worms nor snakes; they are in fact legless lizards.
Like the Common lizard and the Grass snake, Slow worms are protected by law. We hope the visiting cats will avoid the anthills and long grass.
