Anguis fragilis, or Slow worm

We had a burst of garden activity, which included my cutting the very long grass in the back garden. It was hot and sweaty and not the best day to be toiling, which is how it felt.

I lifted a tarpaulin that I had put down to subdue some Bindweed and was delighted to see this little Slow worm beginning to slide away to safety in the long grass. I haven't seen any for ages, certainly not this summer, and formerly they were quite prevalent in our garden. But there has been an influx of cats, and last year I removed one from Bomble's claws just before he had started to play with it, so I wasn't surprised they were apparently absent.

I gently replaced the tarpaulin and went to get my camera. I had a long zoom onboard and didn't think to change it, so when I tried to photograph the Slow worm I only had seconds to get the picture. I was holding the tarpaulin up with one hand, whilst trying to retreat far enough away to get focus, but failed. Seconds later I was alone. But I am so pleased to have seen it. I must try to make a safe area where the cats can't reach for them to hopefully find a haven.

In case you are intrigued by these delightful lizards, I have copied this from a Wiki entry:
Anguis fragilis, or Slow worm, slow-worm or slowworm, is a limbless reptile native to Eurasia. It is also sometimes referred to as the blindworm or blind worm, though the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) considers this to be incorrect.

Slow worms are semi-fossorial[1] (burrowing) lizards spending much of the time hiding underneath objects. The skin of the varieties of slow worm is smooth with scales that do not overlap one another. Like many other lizards, slow worms autotomize, meaning that they have the ability to shed their tails in order to escape predators. The tail regrows, but remains smaller.

These reptiles are mostly active during the twilight and occasionally bask in the sun, but are more often found hiding beneath rocks and logs. They are carnivorous and, because they feed on slugs and worms, they can often be found in long grass and other damp environments.

The females give birth to live young (ovoviviparous birth). In the days leading up to birth the female can often be seen basking in the sun on a warm road.

They are common in gardens and can be encouraged to enter and help remove pest insects by placing black plastic or a piece of tin on the ground. On warm days one or more slow worms will often be found underneath these collectors of heat. One of the biggest causes of mortality in slow worms in suburban areas is the domestic cat, against which it has no defence.

Although these lizards are often mistaken for snakes, there are a number of features that differentiate them from snakes. The most important is they have small eyes with eyelids that blink like lizards. This is a feature that is not found in snakes. They may also have visible ears like lizards do, which snakes do not have. They shed their skin in patches like other lizards, rather than the whole skin as most snakes do. Slow worms also shed tails (autotomy) by breaking one of their tail vertebrae in half, as a defence mechanism, as lizards do.