At last! I can be excited about my wheeliebins without sounding like I need to get a life.

I was filling up my green garden rubbish bin and found myself eyeballing a slow worm. Somehow in the transfer of my garden cuttings and clippings we'd transported two of the beautiful creatures into the wheelie bin. As my last sighting of a slow worm was after the grass-cutting and somewhat depressing it was delightful to find two live ones in the bin.

Of course as my lover and I carefully emptied the bin, they didn't realise they were being rescued and proved very fast indeed. We successfully rescued them and given them a home under the hedge. Now we have to keep the grass short to keep them safe.

Slow-worms are lizards. The skin of the varieties of slow-worm is smooth with scales that do not overlap one another. Like some other lizards, slow-worms autotomize, meaning that they have the ability to shed their tails in order to escape predators. The tail regrows, but seldom to its former length.

These reptiles are active during the day and like to bask in the sun. They are carnivorous and, because they feed on slugs and worms, they can often be found in long grass.

The females give birth to live young (viviparous birth). In the days leading up to birth the female can often be seen basking in the sun on a warm road.

They are common in gardens and can be encouraged to enter and help remove pest insects by placing black plastic or a piece of tin on the ground. On warm days one or more slow worms will often be found underneath these collectors of heat.

Although these lizards are often mistaken for snakes, there are a number of features that differentiate them from snakes. The most important is they have small eyes with eyelids that blink. This is a feature that is not found in snakes. They also have notched tongue rather than a forked tongue, which is a common feature of a snake. They shed their skin in patches like other lizards, rather than the whole skin as most snakes do.

Adult slow-worms grow to be about 50 cm long and are known for their exceptionally long life; it has been said that a slow-worm is the longest living lizard. The female often has a stripe along the back and the male may have blue spots.