The Slow Worm. All slow worm young regardless of sex have a similar black-and-gold colouration with dark flanks and bellies and a shiny golden top similar in colour to a female. The slow worm which is also sometimes called the blind worm is a limbless member of the Anguidae family and is the reptile most commonly seen in the UK.
Slow Worms are very often mistaken for Snakes even though they are Legless Lizards their eyes can blink and they have a primitive hip bone of Lizards. The slow worm also called blindworm is in Danish called stålorm meaning steel worm. The Slow worm Anguis fragilis L.
At the end a small notch divides the tongue in to two parts but it is not the deep fork seen in snakes.
Unlike snakes lizards such as the slow-worm have eyelids and can detach their tails as a defence mechanism and regrow another although never to the same length. Slow worms are carnivores which feed on invertebrates. Slow worms are often mistaken for snakes. Sharon Stilliard has been volunteering with the Wildlife Trust for nearly 15 years and was a joint winner of the 2021 Oliver Rackham Award at this years AGM.