I was out and about over the last few days checking our reptile monitoring sites and I was amazed by the numbers of slow worms there have been under the roofing felt squares we have laid as refuges.  Under one felt on the North Downs there were too many shiny bodies to count (see photo).  As there is so little bright sunshine at the moment it looks as if the warmth-gathering effect of the roofing felt is supplying a real service to heat hungry slow worms. 

In the slow worm habitats most refuges are sheltering at least one gravid female; it is certainly important for them to keep warm at the moment so that their young can develop quickly and be delivered as soon as possible before hibernation.  The cool summer last year seems to have resulted in some late deliveries although it is not clear what negative impacts this may have had.

But my surprise was not limited to just the number of slow worms.  At one site on the Greensands Ridge I came across the largest (but not the longest) slow worm I have ever seen.  It appears to be a gravid female but without the distinguishing dark flanks and thin dorsal stripe of the adult female (and sub-adult males and females).  Instead it had a more or less uniform straw colour and a girth nearly double that of any gravid female I have encountered (see photos 2 and 3).  Is this some strange mutant?  Have you seen one like this?