This photo was taken by one of our volunteers, Derek Hore, but although it was in Thornbury it wasn't at Filnore. Hopefully we have some there somewhere. Slow worms, for that's what it is, are related to lizards more closely than snakes. For one thing they have eyelids to blink with and their skeletons and scales are quite different from snakes'.
They eat a lot of slugs and worms and are in turn eaten by toads and frogs. They are also killed by domestic cats. To encourage one to come and eat the slugs in your garden, provide a piece of slate, tin or roofing felt flat on the ground and one may creep underneath for shelter.
Derek also took this picture of the slow worm's face.
You can see two short video clips of slow worms on the BBC page www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Anguis_fragilis#p003k8hc
(There is an underscore between Anguis and fragilis)
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