November 2021
Late September saw the biggest cut and rake of the year in St Paternus churchyard. We had a wonderful number of volunteers and amazingly managed to finish the whole lot in one day. It was great to have some new faces join us, and we very much hope to see you all again at the next event. There should be another cut later this month to tidy things up for the winter – look out for dates.
The churchyard’s slow worm population seems to be thriving, including this handsome specimen in the photos. While slow worms do look like snakes and can grow to around 50 cm long, they are of course legless lizards.
They are often encouraged by gardeners as slow worms eat invertebrates, including slugs and snails, but can be preyed on themselves by birds, especially corvids, and also by cats – slow worms can shed their tail to escape from predators, in common with other lizards.
If they escape accidental death and predation they can live for 20-30 years, though apparently a slow worm at Copenhagen Zoo lived to be 54!
Slow worms mostly hunt for food at dusk but can also be seen sunbathing during the day. This time of year they will be getting ready to hibernate.
You can help them by having a few undisturbed and untidy corners of your garden – they like to burrow underneath leaf piles, compost and logs to hide and hibernate. They will reward you in the spring by eating your garden pests!
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