What I’m Not

Photographs and words Nick Sidle

Photograph – Slow Worm, Angus fragility, Battan Forest, Glen Convinth, Highland Scotland

I’m not a snake and I’ve not had too much to drink

Photograph – Slow Worm, Angus fragility, Battan Forest, Glen Convinth, Highland Scotland

So what is the Slow Worm? True, it does look more like a snake than anything else and it most certainly is resident in Scotland, including the North, but it is not actually a snake at all, or a worm for that matter so it is not the second snake species for the Highlands after the Adder. The Slow Worm is actually a lizard without any legs, legless as it is usually described, but in no way connected to alcohol.

Photograph – Slow Worm, Angus fragility, Glen Urquhart, Highland Scotland

They are smaller than snakes and have what is called as a semifossorial lifestyle, which is a complicated way of saying they spend a lot of time not strictly burrowing into the earth like a mole which is fossorial, but going a bit in that direction by hiding under things, hence semifossorial. The key features that confirm they are not snakes (and are lizards) include:

Having eyelids and blinking

Photograph – Slow Worm, Angus fragility, Glen Urquhart, Highland Scotland

Having visible ears

Shedding their skin one area at a time, not all in one go

Being able to break off their tail to escape a predator

They are also no threat to anyone, like almost all lizards they do not have a dangerous bite (a few do such as the Gila Monster but the only ones I know are from South America, not even Europe, and most certainly do not include the Common Lizard found in Scotland). It should also be remembered that the majority of snakes are not poisonous, but to be fair the Adder is and should be treated with respect and caution.

Slow worms can be very long lived with estimates of up to thirty years in the wild and records of 54 years in captivity. One very important threat to them is the domestic cat which kills them almost indiscriminately, whether this is because the cat also makes the mistake of thinking they are a small snake and a threat that should be dealt with or whether they are too tempting prey to resist is an open question.

Photograph – Slow Worm, Angus fragility, Glen Urquhart, Highland Scotland

In Scotland and the rest of the UK, Slow Worms are decreasing in number and are a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act meaning it is illegal to take, harm or disturb them.

Friends of Cùra

The slow worm is a protected species in Scotland. I chose to tell my slow worm story to champion this species and raise awareness of the importance of a space and a home for a slow worm. In 2020 the world was locked down due to the COVID-19 pandemic and for many people this meant a slower pace in life.

One day as I crossed the busy trunk road near my house that is part of the famous North Coast 500 (NC500) I was aware of the silence and sound of the tarmac as it expanded in the shining hot sun. As I crossed, to my surprise, I saw a creature slower than myself also crossing the NC500. A slow worm was making its way – carefree across a road that in busy times would be a no man’s land for (wo)man and beast.

I watched the beauty of its movement and the iridescent sheen of its skin in the hot sun. At that point it hit home.

“We humans demand our rights to routes for transport and corridors to drive our cars at speed, but why should we make this demand when wildlife corridors can be disrupted too?”

This moment of slow travel made me realise how important it is to slow down, to relish in the diversity of your environment and to pay heed to the vital and crucial wildlife corridors that exist on our own doorsteps.

Lucy Beattie SNP

Teaching Fellow in Science Communication at Edinburgh University and has recently completed a PhD that looks at public engagement with science