Shame. You really missed an opportunity there! Sounds as if you had plenty of time to go indoors and fetch your camera...

I'm so jealous, not just slow worms but grass snakes and adders too!

I had proud no-panic moment too - on holiday in Portugal a couple of weeks ago, mooching around looking at orchids, walked round a beehive to start my journey back, spotted another orchid, bent down to check it - didn't notice the *second* beehive 12 inches from the orchid. Suddenly realised I had a bee on my nose and several others attempting to entangle themselves in my hair. Batted off the bee on my nose (a swollen nose tip is *so* unattractive) then said "wait - bees don't like people thrashing about wildly", so walked calmly but briskly away, and shed all the bees without receiving a sting.

It was part way through this that I realised the world was out of focus ...

Binoculars revealed my glasses lying about 18 inches from the hive.

Luckily my resident oligochaetologist did his Sir Galahad act. My silk headscarf over his head and face, sleeves pulled down, socks over his hands. Walked calmly in, picked up the glasses and came back out. Brilliant!