Lifting the lid on wildlife

There’s often a secret to be found within a churchyard or cemetery, as Harriet Carty, from Caring for God’s Acre, reveals.

Slowworms may be living there, rarely seen by visitors as they tend to hide within the vegetation and don’t emerge to bask in the sun like other reptiles. They are not particularly slow and they are not worms, neither are they snakes. They are actually lizards without legs and, when warmed up and active can be pretty nippy!

Slowworms hunt in hidden places such as compost heaps, thick vegetation at the base of a wall or hedge and within piles of logs or stones. They catch slower moving prey like slugs and can drop their tails to escape predators, a characteristic of all lizards.

Summer is a good time to look for them and the easiest way to do this is to put out some pieces of old roofing material, about 50cm square. You can use corrugated sheets, but try to avoid sharp edges. Place a few of these in areas that catch the morning sun and are away from paths, perhaps in rougher vegetation such as tussocky grass. Slowworms will go under them to warm up in the mornings before going out to hunt and may be there at any time of day in colder weather.

Check the squares about once a week, lifting one side carefully and looking underneath. Try and check between 8:00 and 10:00am for best results as this is when the animals are warming up. Why not take a quick picture as the square is lifted, before it scurries or slithers off! It may take animals a while to find the squares so be patient, the more squares, the better your chances.

Churchyards and cemeteries are havens for reptiles and also amphibians such as frogs, toads and newts. CfGA is collecting information to better understand just how important they are for these animals. Please take a photo using the iNaturalist app or let us know what you’ve seen via email - harriet@cfga.org.uk,