WILLIAMSON'S WEEKLY NATURE NOTES

WE used to have a riposte in the services: "Get Knotted". I often wondered about the derivation. No doubt Nelson's navy knew.

This slow worm certainly obliged when she crossed my path in the garden.

I didn't touch her for fear she lived up to her Latin name: Anguis fragilis.

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Where this getting knotted is one form of self-defence to confuse the enemy, becoming rigid and apparantly torpid is another.

Then you have to be very careful how you handle this lovely little legless lizard, because she can be broken clean in two. Hence the title fragile.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette July 18