Back in 2009 the Luton and Dunstable Guided Busway was about to be built along the old railway line. Prior to construction they had to rehome the slow worm population who were living along part of the line. Ecological consultants began collecting the slow worms from the route and moving then over to Totternhoe Nature Reserve. When over 900 had been moved to Totternhoe we began worrying about the carrying capacity of the reserve, so they took subsequent slow worms to Dallow Downs and Bradger’s Hill, two lovely wildlife sites in Luton.  Over three years over 1,500 slow worms were moved from the bus way route! Such translocations are fairly common, what is much less common is long-term monitoring to ensure these populations are surviving following the move. Luckily funding was secured from the development to monitoring the translocated populations in the first two years, and also years five and ten.  

Primary aims of the monitoring at translocation sites:

1. Confirm presence of slow worms
2. Assess the condition of the slow worms
3. Confirm breeding

Over the years additional aims have included:

• Monitor the resident population at Blow’s Down adjacent to the Guided Busway following the primary aims
• Look for slow worm moving beyond the release area
• Assess the impact of habitat management in the core release area

Survey’s were carried out using artificial refugia in the form of 50cm squares of roofing felt laid out at approximately 40 tiles per kilometre of edge habitat. Surveys were conducted for eight weeks during both spring (April-May) and Autumn (late August - October) with weekly visits on days which were warm and dry. As well as recording presence of every slow worm, where possible each was captured and its weight (used as a proxy for condition), body length and head photo taken.

The project has been a great success with all three primary aims being met. Over the 10+ years slow worm numbers appear stable at all the release sites. There has been no decline in body condition, and evidence of breeding at all sites leading to healthy looking population structures.

The resident population of slow worms at Blows Down appears to be increasing over the years, with healthy body condition.  Breeding has been evident in the five and ten years post construction surveys.

We closely monitored one area of Totternhoe to see if there was any affect of extensive bramble and scrub regrowth clearance, slow worm numbers increased the year after the work indicating that if anything it was beneficial to them but not detrimental. This is good to prove as a lot of scrub clearance work takes place across all these chalk grassland sites.

At Bradger’s Hill there have been a couple of slow worm sightings outside the initial release area. At Totternhoe we have done a few surveys beyond the release area and found that they quickly moved to adjacent areas. There are a handful of records of them further away through the reserve too and this is something we would like to investigate in more detail on future surveys.

Many thanks to all the volunteers who have been involved with this project, especially to Sharon who has helped us every year since the beginning.