The distribution of slow worms in Gloucestershire

Data courtesy of Gloucestershire Centre for Environmental Records

In my excitement over the allotment slowworms, I forgot to ask my colleagues at the Gloucestershire Environmental Records Centre (GCER) just how common this legless lizard is in Cam. I was offered a trade by Holly York at GCER to provide a 6 figure grid reference in exchange for a distribution map of slowworm records and I was shocked to find that there has only ever been one previous record for the parish and that was made 25 years ago.

It seems that not only are our colony still supporting breeding slowworms, it is the only current record of them. But does that mean that this is a very rare creature? Possibly not, it is more likely that records of this enigmatic little reptile are simply not being provided for the parish.

Species recording is generally patchy and for many creatures, the availability of quality data is very poor. This is odd as the UK has the best studied flora and fauna of any country in the world. So why do we apparently know so little? I believe that there are three reasons:

Firstly, the value of wildlife recordings is not understood. Without good information, conservation strategy is hard to design properly. Secondly, there is a worrying shortage of active recorders and there are very few younger people becoming experts in identification. Thirdly, the system for recording and storing important information is not well known.

In Gloucestershire, Linda and Holly at GCER welcome all sighting data. Contact them at gcer@gloucestershirewildlifetrust.co.uk or on 01172 309119.

For those interested in learning more about the natural world around them, I suggest the following three websites as excellent places to start. Whilst they are Gloucestershire biased, they give a good starting point into biodiversity and surveying networks.

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust organising over 300 public activities a year.

National Biodiveristy Network which co-ordinates species recording across the UK.

Gloucestershire Naturalists Society where the county’s top specialists can be contacted.