Ahhhhhhh, nothing quite like an English Garden. Tons of work cutting back Laurels and Holly, and taking back some 10 extra meters of Garden. In the last two days around our house I have seen deer, rabbits, a fox, a toad, and this lovely Slow Worm. (Yes, we have just built that lovely stone wall with 5 tons of stone, to attract the other lizards and snakes too!)
Despite appearances, the slow-worm is actually a legless lizard, not a worm or a snake!
I have found these basking in the sun in the New Forest, or this one was in the mulch we were raking over near our compost heap.
This lovely reptile is protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981. Priority Species under the UK Post-2010 Biodiversity Framework.
FYI, the slow-worm is neither a worm nor a snake, but is, in fact, a legless lizard - its identity is given away by its abilities to shed its tail and blink with its eyelids.