Can't hurry love: slow worms embrace marathon sessions of lockdown loving

If you're gardening more than usual, try not to disturb the legless lizard, which can mate for up to 10 hours at a time in May

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Under a small, sun-baked mat, a curled metallic-gold slow worm lies basking in the heat, the dark stripe running down its body revealing its youth. Sensing attention, it begins to wriggle away, revealing a companion, which speeds rapidly into the grasses in the opposite direction.

After a winter of social distancing, slow worms - a type of legless lizard that grows up to half a metre long and is often mistaken for a snake - have been venturing out of hibernation to enjoy warming their cold-blooded bodies in the spring sun.