What’s lurking in the leaf mould?

To the rear of the garden we keep a leaf mould bin, a wire construction which gets filled with fallen leaves and rots down over time. Next to it is a more conventional compost bin. All part of recycling but with the added bonus of creating some additional habitat for the smaller wildlife, and tonight's surprise unearthing was a slow worm (which is in fact neither a worm or a snake, but a legless lizard).

Slow worms seem to be much less common these day than I remember, despite being a protected species. Cats are a particular problem, and in a previous home the local population was decimated by the town felines.
The slow worm

It's not only the little things that like the leaf mould. The foxes have been known to clamber into it on occasion, possibly in search of bugs but also to cache food (presumably a kind of secret store they don't think other foxes will find!).
Jumping up into the leaf mould

Stepping over to the compost bin

King of the heap!

I've posted a large format version of the last photo. The original was very dark and grainy. The fox's eyes had blown with the flash and have been darkened. I've also brightened the image considerably (it's still quite dark), saturated the colour, and used a hefty amount of noise reduction for the final image.

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This Post Has 7 Comments

  1. SittingFox

    17 Jul 2007

    It's always great to see a slowworm! My sister in Hastings occasionally had them in her previous garden, but I rarely hear of sightings in my corner of the North Downs. Great shots of the foxes too.

    Also good to see Opera running normally again after yesterday!

  2. Words

    18 Jul 2007

    We used to have loads when we lived in town until the cats got to them. Much less common where we are now, so a bit of treat to see one.

    The glitches on the site were weird. Seemed to depend on whether you were logged in or not, plus a hefty amount of luck.

  3. barefoot_muse

    18 Jul 2007

    I don't think I can recall ever seeing a slowworm before. Thank you for posting! 🙂

  4. ALLY_G

    18 Jul 2007

    A slowworm… that must be, what we Germans call "Blindschleiche". We have a lot of these here in the Black Forest…
    Another great series of fox photos! :up: Also the large version of the last photo is very nice: the fox looks like a picture in a childrens book. I like it! :happy:

  5. gdare

    18 Jul 2007

    Slowworm, we call them "slepic", a name that is similar to one that Elke wrote ("Blindschleiche"). I have never seen them in town but in a village they are common.

  6. Words

    20 Jul 2007

    Interesting to see the other names for the slow worm.

    And Ally, I'm glad you liked the last photo. I can see what you mean about it looknig like an illustration for a book. Now I just have to write a story to go with it 🙂

  7. ALLY_G

    22 Jul 2007

    I took another view at the photo and I like it still more. :up:

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