Glow Worms

Tue 16 Aug 2011, 00:09

Film is great, I will be able to show my children what they are like after telling them about them when I saw them back in June. Thank you.

Mon 15 Aug 2011, 22:29

My short film of Glow Worms at Little Lees now up on YouTube - showed it at Choc last weekend.

Sun 26 Jun 2011, 23:31

Went out to check glow worms tonight, spotted dozens in the field behind Lees Heights, to set the record straight there have always been glow worms in that area even before the present developement took place,another site used to be in the verges by the rail station, not sure if they are still there. Amazing creatures to watch

Thu 23 Jun 2011, 16:50

I have already logged the sighting, just thought it may be of interest to people in Charlbury

Wed 22 Jun 2011, 11:27

Should also point out a link to somewhere that wants to log your glow worm sightings.
www.glowworms.org.uk/

Wed 22 Jun 2011, 11:25

Don't want to open a can of worms here (no pun intended!), but isn't it the glow worm at Lees Heights that scuppered building applications on the fields up there in the past?

Mon 20 Jun 2011, 14:50

I have been lucky enough to see GLOW WORMS on the last two evenings in Little Lees, they really are amazing little insects!

Mon 12 Jul 2010, 12:25

Susan, there are no adders in this area AFAIK, but grass snakes are everywhere, although they don't like neatly manicured lawns. You're not likely to come across them other than hearing them as a rustle in the grass at the edge of a hedge, but I've seen them on all the footpaths round here and swimming across the mill stream. Grass snakes are harmless, unless you are a small rodent or frog.

Slow worms are also totally harmless, I have them in my garden, my parents used to have them in their garden until the neighbour's cat decimated the population. They're protected, so you're not allowed to kill/injure wild ones or keep them in a vivarium.

Mon 12 Jul 2010, 10:58

Had occassional grass snakes in the house last year - brought in by the cat. They have a very pretty tummy and are really good at playing dead. They are, of course, also completely harmless. Don't think the cat damaged them either, as they stopped playing dead and slithered off as soon as they thought the coast was clear. Amazing experience, though I hope the cat won't do it again.

Mon 12 Jul 2010, 10:38

Could somebody tell me where they have spotted grass snakes or slow worms or adders, so that I can avoid those places please!

Sat 10 Jul 2010, 23:31

There are grass snakes in you neck of the woods grahame,

Sat 10 Jul 2010, 17:09

We've deliberately left an area behind our tall front hedge to go wild with heaps of cut wood rotting away in piles and butterfly-food nettles (this is apart from the heaps of old building materials from our renovations we can't wait to get rid of in a skip when the work is done but provided excellent hibernation quarters the last couple of winters!). We've had sightings of slow worms and grass snakes, and one morning I found grass snake droppings on a strategically placed stone where the morning sun would light it up. Looked it up on a coprology website! They are after the numerous frogs and toads that inhabit the front and back plus the rodents - if lizards and snakes eat toads that is, I was under the impression they concentrate poison from their prey in blisters on their backs. Is this correct?

Fri 9 Jul 2010, 19:42

That's interesting - our garden practically backs onto that wood.

Fri 9 Jul 2010, 17:52

Back to GLOW worms!
They were in the small woods behind Lees Heights. About 1.5cm long (as far as I could see in the dark!) with black/brown stripes. Presumably these are the males attracting females? How rare are these creatures around here?

Fri 9 Jul 2010, 17:20

Slow worms come in different colours, depending on whether they are chaps or girls. Chaps are greyish, girls are browner.

Fri 9 Jul 2010, 13:48

Yes Helen,
That's what I thought until I looked it up, definitely not a slowworm .
The markings on the body were just like the book and the BBC site.
It could be a variation of Adder however [ which is more likely ] but I couldn't see the eye. No yellow collar which the book says is typical of grass snakes and only about 50/60cm in length.
Exciting nevertheless.

Fri 9 Jul 2010, 11:23

The snake will have either been a slow worm (actually a legless lizard) which are dark underneath and gold on top with a black line down the middle, or a grass snake - bigger and greyish.

Fri 9 Jul 2010, 09:23

He, he, slight vocabluary mix up, thought it read Slow worms SORRY!

Thu 8 Jul 2010, 18:39

Where do you see them? I've seen them in the Caribbean but hadn't dreamed you could see them in the UK.

Thu 8 Jul 2010, 17:18

When we come to Charlbury to visit my parents my children love going to where the glow worms live ! We visited in May and saw loads of them.

Thu 8 Jul 2010, 16:21

Things must be improving in Charlbury.
I've just had an encounter with a smooth snake on my lawn. A first for me.

Wed 7 Jul 2010, 23:21

I saw my first ever glow worm here in Charlbury last summer. It reappeared in the same spot several nights running!

Wed 7 Jul 2010, 22:13

I have been living in Charlbury over 20 years and have just seen my first 2 glow worms. Are they rare in this area? I have seen them in Cornwall, Devon & Dorset, but never in Oxfordshire. Has anyone else seen any in Charlbury?