Written by Emma Byrne, Transforming Lives Trainee
July is a month full of activity for our reptile and amphibian friends! This month, let’s take a closer look at the UK’s only species of legless lizard, the slow worm, and see what they’re up to throughout this warm, summer month…
Slow worms emerge from hibernation in late March, with breeding taking place in April and May. The gestation period is around 11 – 14 weeks, so from July until September, slow worms are giving birth! They are ovoviviparous, which means that females incubate their eggs internally. The eggs hatch inside the slow worm’s body, and the young stay there living off the yolk of their egg. The female will then go on to give birth to between eight and twelve live young. Hatchlings are born still wrapped in their embryonic membranes, which burst open to reveal tiny slow worms, little more than four centimeters long. They can be identified by their gold or silver backs with a black stripe down the middle, a black dot on their head and glossy black sides.
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If you hope to spot a slow worm, here are a few helpful tips:
- Head out at dusk as this is when slow worms tend to be most active hunting for food.
- Make a beeline for open woods, damp heaths, rough grassland and grassland and meadows with hedges and scrub.
- If you prefer to stay closer to home – take a look in your garden. Be sure to keep a close eye on your compost heap, as slow worms like to use the warmth to heat up their bodies!
- If you’re unsure whether you have a found a slow worm or a small snake, remember unlike snakes, slow worms have eyelids, small ear openings, their tail is detachable and they have notched tongues as opposed to forked tongues.
Always remember to record your amphibian and reptile sightings on our FREE Dragon Finder app.
Summer is arriving! As June has the greatest number of daylight hours during the year and is often one of the warmer months, this can be an enticing time for reptiles.
Potentially as early as January in the South East of England, and up to April in other areas of the UK, the common frog will emerge from their winter hideouts and head back to a pond. Male frogs will ‘piggy back’ on their chosen female using their nuptial pads to hold on tightly. This is a process known as ‘amplexus’. He will then fertilise her spawn as she lays it. Common frog eggs are laid in clumps, with up to 2,000 eggs laid in one single clump. Female frogs can lay up to 4,000 eggs over one breeding season.
Common toads will ritually return to the same pond for breeding each year where possible. They take advantage of warmer, damp spring evenings to leave their overwintering sites and return to their specific pond. This behaviour makes them notorious for crossing roads over night and putting themselves at risk of being run over. Our 
Once the warmer weather of spring hits, newts too will venture back to a suitable pond to breed and lay eggs. Males of each newt species will perform elaborate ‘dances’ to attract the attention of females, who will choose which male gets to fertilise their eggs. Newt eggs are laid in a very different way to toads and frogs. A female newt will lay each egg individually, she will lay the egg on the leaf of an aquatic plant and carefully fold the leaf around the egg to protect it, giving the leaf a very straight edge where it has been folded over. Newts lay less eggs than their toad and frog counterparts, but females will still lay hundreds over the season.
It’s a new year, the weather is cold, and 
Drowsy December