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2018 Slow Worms |
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Liz Heard
Senior Member Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Location: South West Status: Offline Points: 1429 |
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Posted: 12 Dec 2018 at 7:31pm |
reading Suzy's updates.
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will
Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1830 |
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@theHabitatGardener - thank you and good luck with your wildlife pond!
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TheHabitatGardener
Member Joined: 03 Dec 2018 Location: Essex/ Cali Status: Offline Points: 15 |
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Thank you. I hope to come back on here with evidence of the herps I manage to attract one day - fingers crossed.
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Suzy
Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1447 |
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I get grass snakes occasionally in the garden. We have a sunken stream at the bottom of the garden and that is likely their highway. They too will go under covers and in compost heaps that are covered. Again I started having visits from them when i had not created the wild garden. If there are plenty of ponds about I think your chances of grass snakes are good, if you are near the countryside as you say.
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Suz
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TheHabitatGardener
Member Joined: 03 Dec 2018 Location: Essex/ Cali Status: Offline Points: 15 |
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Thanks Chubsta that’s very encouraging. I can’t wait to get started now! I’m planning a wildlife pond and want to build in some hibernacula too. There are two very old ponds in the garden, one in deep shade of ancient trees and one nearer the house a bit clearer of trees and full of loosestrife and yellow flags in summer. Neither hold water all year round and they both take the ditch water from arable fields, so I’m excited to try to join up the dots by introducing a permanent clean water pond nearby. I’ve found newts, frogs and toads in the garden and the previous owners saw a lizard on the day they moved out apparently! There are two good garden ponds in neighbouring gardens close by. And a network of excellent old ponds in a large private garden a few big arable fields (<1 mile) away. I think they have grass snakes there - would they be possible visitors to my garden from that distance does anyone know?
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chubsta
Senior Member Joined: 26 Apr 2013 Location: Folkestone,Kent Status: Offline Points: 430 |
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i hadn’t seen any in my garden but spoke to someone who lived nearby and he said he had them. i ctreated a wild area in my garden and put down sheets and straightaway saw slow worms, and later in the year saw new babies. good luck with yours, hopefully you will be successful
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TheHabitatGardener
Member Joined: 03 Dec 2018 Location: Essex/ Cali Status: Offline Points: 15 |
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Fantastic photo Will
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TheHabitatGardener
Member Joined: 03 Dec 2018 Location: Essex/ Cali Status: Offline Points: 15 |
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Sixty! Incredible. I will follow your advice and put carpet/ roof felt down and create some open heaps (so far just have Dalek bins). We are currently living in California for a year but returning to our home in Essex this summer. I’m planning to develop our garden as a habitat garden and herps are high on my list. There are some amazing herps in California but for me nothing beats the magic of the native fauna I discovered in childhood at home!
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Suzy
Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1447 |
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Slow worms can be present in an area in high numbers without us being aware of them. I have over sixty in my garden and rarely see them unless I search for them.
What you need to do is provide cover for them to hide under. This can be things like sheets of corrugated iron, roofing felt or plastic sheeting. They will also go under old carpets. They like to be in compost heaps too and if you cover a heap with plastic sheeting you will find them basking under the plastic when you peel it back. We are encouraged to let parts of our garden go wild for wildlife but I had plenty of slow worms when I still mowed all of it, BUT I did have the covers down and several large covered compost heaps. If they are in your area and you provide suitable cover for them then you might find them in the first year. Good luck |
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Suz
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TheHabitatGardener
Member Joined: 03 Dec 2018 Location: Essex/ Cali Status: Offline Points: 15 |
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Hello Gemma and Suzy and co. I am new to this forum and I just wanted to say how interesting and inspiring I find your posts! I am in Essex too Gemma and I’m planning a wildlife pond so thank you for all the advice you have posted. I am wondering how to attract slow worms to the garden as that would be a dream come true for me. I have seen one (dead on the road 😩) a few miles from us so it’s possible they are around locally. Any advice much appreciated, these pictures are beautiful!
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