We had a great morning looking for slow worms & adding more refuges for them to shelter under. This will help us to survey their presence across Grove Farm.

John from London Amphibian & Reptile group led myself, Mike, Niki, Ajit, Sue & Fred in creating & laying out the new refuges for slow worms. Rough grass on the edge of scrub is ideal habitat for slow worms & we laid 18 new refuges out in areas like this across the site. Slow worms then tend to hide under these refuges as they like the warmth they provide.

We found a good number of slow worms on the refuges that are already on site, including a pregnant female, and we also startled a field vole. We will be visiting theses refuges regularly to monitor the slow worm population.

If anyone would like to help us with monitoring get in touch either here or via friendsofgrovefarm@gmail.com.

The refuges may look like litter, so to our wonderful litterpickers - if you see black squares/rectangles laid on the grass please leave them. They are not rubbish.

Thank you to John for the help & donating the refuges.