What I can't work out is just what it is that attracts them to our garden - what's so special?
Of course, the couple who lived here before were very elderly and fairly infirm. No gardening would appear to have been done for several (if not many) years so perhaps it was just the peace that they liked.
I think you're right. When we moved in the garden was a sea of spurge/gravel, and bindweed covered everything in every border - so nothing bothered the slow worms! 😄
We have them in our garden and I love them. Unfortunately, so do the cats. Found a slow worm tail in the flower bed the other day - I hope it managed to escape safely.
Yep - a perpetual problem with cats, isn't it? Cats are lovely animals (especially ours of course!) but I do wish we could breed the hunting/killing instinct out of them.
Inherited an amazing garden in Taunton, Somerset, stuffed with wonderful plants, shrubs, trees and creatures
Slow worms here, breed every year in the garden ( coastal West Somerset ). Plenty of plant coverage but they also like something similar to old carpet, ditto doormat/ butyl liner to hide under.
There are lots of them in our garden so I have to be very careful when cutting long grass and lifting anything they will hide under. They are in all of our compost bins which makes them tricky to empty.
I have found a grass snake in with them a couple of times but the snake is much faster reacting to disturbance than the slow worms.
We have them on our Allotments too, not seen often, but coincidentally I lifted some ground cover the other day and there was one. The cover had only been down a few days to keep the soil damp so I could rotavate. I relocated it close to my compost bins. Hope they enjoy all the slugs and snails .
I took a short video clip of one of our slow worms last year, but the file is too large to post here. I'm not on You Tube (don't understand all this stuff), but wondered if there was another way of posting this up. Any ideas?
Our cat used to get one occasionally - so all but one got away with all but a tail end.
Our cats hunt them enthusiastically but as yet (after one complete year) they've only actually caught and damaged one. A number of slow worms have appeared on our garden paths but the cats merely watch - presumably they're a new thing to them and they aren't sure what to do with them. Long may that state of affairs continue.
Inherited an amazing garden in Taunton, Somerset, stuffed with wonderful plants, shrubs, trees and creatures
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I'm not on You Tube (don't understand all this stuff), but wondered if there was another way of posting this up. Any ideas?