Wyrm
Anguis fragilis - the slow worm.
The Latin name is all wrong - it's not a snake and it seems far from fragile. But to be fair, it does look exactly like a snake, and perhaps the 'fragile' part refers to the fact that it can shed its tail like other lizards.
Its common name really doesn't do it justice either - this is definitely no worm. My first thought was that its scales looked like they'd been forged from burnished bronze. If dragons ever existed, then perhaps this was their larval form and they've just become stuck, like the axoltotl, in perpetual infanthood.
This was my first encounter with a slow worm and it was a magical experience. Especially when my father in-law gently picked it up to give us all a better look.
Wyrm
Anguis fragilis - the slow worm.
The Latin name is all wrong - it's not a snake and it seems far from fragile. But to be fair, it does look exactly like a snake, and perhaps the 'fragile' part refers to the fact that it can shed its tail like other lizards.
Its common name really doesn't do it justice either - this is definitely no worm. My first thought was that its scales looked like they'd been forged from burnished bronze. If dragons ever existed, then perhaps this was their larval form and they've just become stuck, like the axoltotl, in perpetual infanthood.
This was my first encounter with a slow worm and it was a magical experience. Especially when my father in-law gently picked it up to give us all a better look.