How to sex a Slow Worm (what I'm sure you've always wanted to do!)

That rusty sheet of metal is looking at you… Could it have a lizard under it? Maybe even a snake? Unable to hold yourself back anymore you go over and lift it up, the plants growing at its edges bow backward, and underneath scores of tiny invertebrate’s squirm away into the damp mud. Then you spot

A handsome male Slow Worm emerging from hibernation

in mid-March.

it! That sleek, glistening body belonging to none other than the humble Slow Worm.

A male (right) and a female (left) basking together 

beneath a sheet of old metal.

Finding one of these beauties is like finding buried treasure, and these legless lizards are beautiful as they are scaly. Whenever you find one lounging under a stray piece of metal, you’ll get a little rush, something I’ve felt countless times, I think it’s just because they’re so different compared to things like birds. And (one of) the great things about Slow Worms is they don’t mind living with humans. This probably has something to do with the fact they spend most of their time underground, where they don’t really see or have to tolerate many of us. Either way, especially if you live near the South Coast, chances are there are some right on your doorstep.

Go on! Give it a lift, never know what could

be underneath it.

The main reason you don’t see them often is that even when not underground Slow Worms aren’t keen on basking in the open, preferring instead to do so under refuges. While corrugated iron is a favorite, any sheet of metal, rubber, and even wood could be concealing one, or several of these gorgeous creatures. But once you’ve found one, held it, put it back and done this again and again it can sometimes get a bit repetitive. So why not take a closer look at them? Because, every colour, pattern, and marking tell you a whole host of information about the animal.

In this blog post, I’ve noted down the markings and signs to look for that tell you the gender of that polished little lizard in front of you. And remember, just like it says in all the textbooks “they aren’t snakes, they’re legless lizards”.

Characteristics of a male Slow Worm:

The most immediately obvious sign to look for is the colour of the Slow Worm. While occasionally difficult to distinguish gender based on this, the males are always a beige/tan to a sickly grey colour all over the body, which is relatively pale. If you (CAREFULLY) pick up the Slow Worm, you can also look underneath at the colour of its belly. If it’s a male it’ll have a beautiful gray one with a silver sheen,

My home patch of grassland and scrub 

conceals not only Slow Worms but 

Common Lizards too.

sometimes looking icy blue, but again they’re always quite pale.

Looking at the colour of their bellies is (in my opinion) the easiest way of separating the males from the females, but a little tip: when you pick them up do not lift them above your head. This is something I’ve made the mistake of doing and there’re a couple of reasons why you should just tip them on their side instead. One, when you hold it above your head you have to hold it at a bit of an awkward angle, so if the Slow Worm decides to wriggle around you won’t have a great grip to keep a hold of it. When this happened to me, I fell over backwards and probably could’ve dropped and crushed the little thing if I

By far the largest Slow Worm I've ever found. He was a good

35cm long, although they can grow longer than 40cm!

hadn’t held on to him. (He seemed completely fine and slithered off afterward don’t worry.)  

The second reason is that when scared, one method Slow Worms use to try and shake off a predator is to excrete something called a musk. Basically, it’s a bit like on-demand explosive diarrhea. And by holding one up above your face you’re practically advertising it as a target.

With that out of the way, back to other signs to look out for. As I mentioned earlier, there are many different variants and mutations in the colour of Slow Worms, and one of these only occur in males. Normally the backs of the males will just be smooth, without any markings, but some you’ll find have conspicuous blue spots lining them. And from what I’ve read, these are exclusive to males, so it’s an immediate giveaway and is surprisingly common too. 

Slow Worms are unlike many other species in that both genders grow to be the same size, and the only

real size difference is in their heads. In order to fight off predators and rival males, the heads of the males are visibly wider than the females. This is clearest when you look at where the jaw connects to the skull, and you’ll see defined bulges in some individuals (the males) but not others. Looking from above, this gives the
males a distinct “neck”, where the body tapers inwards behind the head.

Characteristics of a female Slow Worm

Unlike the males, the females lack this "neck", having much slimmer heads, although it takes a bit of practice to get your eye in and be able to notice this.

The colour of the females clashes a bit with the males' though being anywhere from a warm gold to a dark copper on top, with the males also often being gold. Normally though the females will be a warmer tone, and the males won't shine as much. Regardless of what colour they are on top, their flanks will always be contrastingly darker, anywhere from a chestnut brown to black, compared to the males which

The black belly of a female-this one

was sadly dead. Likely killed by a cat

because it was in a very built-up area.

are a uniform colour on their top and flanks. 

If you're lucky enough to look at the underside without getting jettisoned in the face by musk, you'll see it is also very dark, usually jet black, which couldn't be more different from the pale silver gray of a male. 

And finally, the markings on females. Though lacking the males' vibrant blue spots, they do have their own unique markings, often sporting a thin black dorsal line, absent in males. Although juvenile Slow Worms have these too, they're clearer; the adults will be obviously larger, and the juveniles will have a little black face. Like with blue spots in males, only some females have a stripe, so rely more on the colour of the belly and the flanks. Are they much darker than the colour on top? Then you've got yourself a female.

I really hope this helps you next time you want to sex a Slow Worm but aren't sue what to look for (an extremely common problem in today's society). 

Walruses in Britain and Ireland

Beautiful Walrus, photo courtesy of photographer 

@leenpictures on Instagram.

Flabby, orange and sporting the mustache of an old man, Walruses are instantly recognizable (and not only for their fabulous facial hair) but also for their tusks, making them stand out amongst the other pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses). These gigantic biological weapons are used by the males in combat, during which they rear their heads and stab

A brutal fight between two leviathans among Walr uses.

fanatically at each other, the fights often resulting in fatalities. They’re also used in foraging, but when it comes to eating they're somewhat gentle giants: they stir up the mud on the seafloor to uncover any little worms, molluscs and anything else they can find there, which they quickly gobble up. Having said that, they do occasionally eat carrion (already dead animals) such as beached whales carcasses and have been known to slaughter seals when needs must, being powerful and agile underwater, (though cumbersome and ungainly on dry land).


Preferring the frozen world of the arctic, it might come as a bit of a surprise when you discover that these magnificent creatures have been seen several times in the UK and Ireland, and not just the remote, northern islands of Scotland either, but have incredibly come as far South as Norfolk and the south coast of Ireland.  

Harbour Seals, relatives to the Walrus and a more 

normal sight to see-photo taken by Jacob Tancock.

Admittedly, the bulk of sightings do occur further up North, the Shetland Islands boasting a whopping number of them, with Orkney also having seen its fair share. One Walrus discovered lounging on the island of Ronaldsay seemed to have a particularly strong liking the group of islands, happily swimming around in their shallow waters, foraging for food, before then deciding to do a tour of the Scottish Highlands. He swam along the entire North Coast of Scotland, popping up every now and then to sunbathe on secluded coves and bask in the limelight and snapping cameras of onlookers. Eventually though, satisfied he’d spent enough time there, he disappeared for good, traveling back to his freezing world up North. But not before fondly being dubbed ‘Wally’ and stealing the front page of several national newspapers.

A close up photo of Wally, in all his glory!

Seeing a Walrus outside of the Arctic in itself is incredibly rare, let alone seeing one in UK waters, but despite this, Walruses have been seen much further South than North Scotland, such as one found decades ago on the isle of Arran, a small island situated off the South West coast of Scotland. The most Southerly sighting in the UK however, was much further south, remarkably, in the River Ouse in Norfolk.

The first attempt to catch the Walrus-people 

watching said it was "actually quite

comical". 

Unlike Wally, this individual was a juvenile, disorientated and confused, thought to have still been finding its feet and taken a wrong turn, ending up swimming down the increasingly narrow River Ouse. It was first discovered by two fishermen, who noticed a hulking shape trailing their boat through the water, but just about the last thing they were expecting it to be was a Walrus. Within hours, their entire village knew about it and members of WWF, RSPCA, and other wildlife organizations were being called to the river. Following some debating, they decided it would be best to take the young Walrus back to the mouth of the river and release it into the open

The River Ouse has also been subject to several seals

over the years-this one was photographed by 

Fletcher Telling.

ocean. Easier said than done.


After disappearing for a bit, the Walrus was found again, comfortably nestled among some reeds on the riverbank, sunbathing. This was it-the perfect chance to catch it, and slowly a crowd began assembling, large nets and ropes passed around. Carefully everyone took up their positions, cautious not to disturb it. Then they launched into action. Flailing their nets and ropes around wildly, everyone jumped down the riverbank, frantically attempting to get a hold on the Walrus. But not a single person managed to, and the Walrus just rolled over back into the river, a few determined locals wading through the water after it, before realizing how pointless it was.

The juvenile Walrus-curled up among the reedbeds.

After three more days of being at large in the river, and a national charity set up to raise money for it to be airlifted back to the arctic, the Walrus was finally caught, and begrudgingly allowed itself to be carried back up North to the Arctic.

Cumbersome on land, Walruses are in their element

underwater, swimming gracefully on their powerful

flippers and tail.

Even this wasn’t the most Southerly Walrus sighting in our local seas though, with that being recorded in Ireland, the West coast of which has been littered with sightings over the last few decades. The most Southerly of these, (and the most Southerly one in the UK) in the county of Cork, right on the South coast. Spotted swimming close to the shore and described as a “hairy ginger cow-sized animal” it wasn’t hard to figure out what it was, and soon a crowd of local wildlife enthusiasts had flocked down there to find the mighty creature. After some searching, it was found stretched out on a beach, sunbathing, (as per usual) and despite everyone’s hopes that it might go back into the water for another swim, it just contently lay there nearly motionless for six hours, sluggishly dragging itself away at night when the tide came in.


Why are they coming this far south?

With no means of escape, tragically Walruses

are easy to kill for any illegal hunts. 

As is the case with many things, there isn't one explanation to answer this, but there’re many combined reasons, and many sightings have their own unique explanations. For example, the reason the juvenile Walrus turned up in the Ouse River is that it was inexperienced with navigating its way around, and had turned up there completely by accident. While Wally the Walrus in the Orkney Isles is thought to have been confused by the infamous Beast From The East.

Many of the other sightings, however, involved Walruses that were mature and perfectly health; not showing any signs of being disorientated. In some of these cases, it’s actually thought that they might’ve come to the UK on purpose. The reasoning behind this is that when a Walrus wants some “alone time” away from the rest of the family group they’ll regularly swim to new, distant locations, just so long as there’s food and a quiet spot to haul out on. So, when some went in search of somewhere new to go to 

With no ice to haul onto, Walruses are forced to climb on any land they can get to-when this

photo was taken this Walrus only had moments left to live, falling off a clifftop it had been

forced on to since there wasn't any ice. 

, and saw a quiet, rocky UK or Irish cove, they decided to temporarily make it their home and spend some time there.


As always though, Climate Change also played a part, causing a whole host of different reasons. Not only is the weather becoming increasingly unpredictable, messing with their instincts, but the ice they desperately need to haul out on (especially if they’ve got babies) is becoming dangerously scarce, melting from Global Warming. This forces them to haul out on whatever landform they can find. 

Even if this is much further away from where they’d prefer to, or if hauling on top of it could cost them their lives. This was one of the tragedies filmed in one of David Attenborough's documentaries Seven Worlds One Planet, where they were filmed climbing a rocky cliff, since all the ice had melted, hundreds of them losing their lives from falling off it.

Sadly, this is just one of the problems they're now facing, with thousands being illegally hunted every year, as they’re too slow to get away quick enough on land. They’re also struck by boats, killed more frequently by starving Polar Bears, unable to catch their normal seal prey. It is such a shame to see such a magnificent animal killed in such large numbers by humans-it seems we’re the recurring denominator of most problems nature is coming up against. I just hope we can turn it around in time.