Slow worm in the garden

After our kite flying adventures yesterday, we came home and under Helena's supervision we had a good stab at clearing the overgrown parts of the garden. It is always easier when two people share a hard task, and this was certainly true in this case. I had to give up when the hard graft got to me by about 7pm but we had made real progress.

I awoke this morning at 5am thinking about the bonfire I was going to have this morning and I ended up gong in and out of sleep from then on annoyingly. Helena offered to help me get going again this morning before she left for work which was very kind of her, and it really helped to get me going. Now I am inside again and most of yesterday's piles of nettles, sticky-willy, the sycamore and ash branches, countless ivy and bramble runners and lots of other old debris has been burn. The fire is still going and I will tend it again later and tidy its fringes.

Yesterday, Helena cleared some old plant pots and disturbed a large spider. She called to me to come up from the bottom of the garden to see it. It was carrying a huge white sac underneath its belly and was obviously looking to find a safe place to go with it. We assumed it was a pouch of eggs and we left it to run away at its own pace. Today I saw another one when I lifted up a large pile of nettles, so I went indoors to get my camera. I managed to find it again a few minutes later when I was ready to film it and have put a couple of pictures of it here, in case you are interested.


A short while later, when I was lifting some plastic sheets on which I had placed lots of weeds to rot down last year I spotted this slow worm. I had already moved one from near to where I was going to have the bonfire, which I had found a few days ago and moved away then That one had obviously returned to the same spot. I knew it was the same one as it had lost its tail some while ago probably as a result of a tangle with one of the many cats in these back gardens .

This slow worm had been lying between two sheets as it transpired and made no effort to slide away. I took about a minute to get my camera from the cabin and still it hadn't moved. As I looked a it I noticed its body was slightly distended in certain sections and the inside was moving very slightly. I suddenly realised that it might be carrying young although I have no idea how it reproduces. It occurred to me that it might not want to move if it was close to giving birth, so I took a few pictures and then covered it over again with the pother plastic sheets to give it some protection and shelter. I will have another look there in a few days and see if it is still there.

A couple of other insects clambered about over the slow worm including this centipede which walked straight over it and on into the undergrowth at the top of the frame.