not quality-but rarity and excitement

Not the best picture I have taken by a country mile, but in terms of excitement, few are better. This is a baby slow worm (Anguis fragilis) found whilst we were strimming the allotment this morning as part of autumn clearing.
About 10 cm long-that's 4 inches in old money-it was lucky to survive the strimming and it means there must be parents and probably siblings about too. I read that the young take 4-5 months to develop and are born at the end of August and early September. So happy birthday for recently little chap.
Slow worms are a protected species in England, as are all English reptiles. This little fellow is neither slow nor a worm nor a snake, but a legless lizard. And I have never got this close to one before. Yippee!.