Wildlife in the garden

We have a bit of a wild garden at times...an although I cut the grass intermittently, it is a bit rough most of the time! Anyway, when we were raking after the last mowing, Peter found a slow worm...They always seem a bit bigger than I think they should be! Sunshine seemed to be intrigued and wanted to run off with it..but I just don't know if they bite..!
Just reading the facts...it would be great if there were enough in the garden to keep the slug population down, but saying that there don't seem to be too many slugs at the moment so perhaps there are...
Given that they have a protected status, we really should be more vigilant when mowing....