LEGLESS lizards are thriving in Oxford thanks to the work of volunteers.

A total of 335 slow worms have now been recorded at the Trap Grounds nature reserve between Port Meadow and Frenchay Road.

And, weirdly, the reptilian resurgence may have been helped by the site's former use as a rubbish dump.

In a recent newsletter the Friends of the Trap Grounds explained that piles of rubble and sheets of corrugated iron around the site provided the perfect refuge for Anguis fragilis.

This increasingly rare reptile is classed as a Priority Species under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.

When the Friends took over managing the site they moved rubble piles to sunny banks, leaving piles of grass cuttings nearby as winter refugees, hoping to encourage the slow worms to stay.

And, secretary Catherine Robinson said: "The policy has paid off handsomely."

In 2017, over a three-acre expanse at the Trap Ground the group recorded a total of 335 worms living alongside grass snakes, newts, toads and frogs.

To find out more about the rare habitats at the Trap Grounds and the friends' ongoing conservation work there, go to trap-grounds.org.uk