lizards?

[honeybee]

Just wondering if anyone sees any lizards? We used to get the occassional common lizard in the garden and on a hot day would see a lot basking in some places but not seen one in Britain for few years.

[Andy Warne]

I see them often but usually not before they've seen me, mostly just see their tails as they disappear into the grass. Never had one in the garden though!

[rlchew]

I saw them a lot in our garden when I was a child but rarely see them now.

I did see a Common Lizard earlier this summer running across the path at the RSPB Titchwell reserve.

I guess they are still relatively common but it is a question of knowing where and how to find them.

Richard

[JT71]

I see lizards on the track (rough tarmac and concrete) outside where I work in Banbury. They are only to be seen on the really hot days of summer. I had wondered if I could catch them and introduce them to my garden in the hope they would breed and grow large enough to eat slugs, but I've since heard to do so may well be illegal. I was stunned the first time i saw them as up unitl that point i had no idea that the UK had lizards living wild.

[arvensis]

Saw a couple yesterday on the heath and it doesn't have to be too hot to see them, a keen eye and knowing where to find them helps.

It isnt illegal to catch viviparous lizards but I would strongly advise against doing so as your garden may not be the right environment for them.

Mark

[JT71]

is that the same thing as a common lizard?

and I always thought the frogs I take great care in not disturbing were supposed to eat my slugs!!!!!!! or are there just too many slugs for my frogs to eat..there's usually four or five large frogs in and around my small pond.

[Imaginos]

Originally Posted by JT71

is that the same thing as a common lizard?

Yes, vivaporous means it produces live young rather than eggs. The other true lizard native to this country is the sand lizard, although the slow worm is also a lizard-a legless one.

[DL]

One stowed itself away in my rucksack recently while I was out monitoring dragonflies. I did not discover it until I had cycled home, 12 miles. I had to go all the way back to release it.

[smartie]

We have quite a few in our garden - almost every time we move some of the compost or tidy up any part of the garden we disturb some. No idea what it is that makes the garden particularly attractive to them, though I'm very pleased it is.

In the autumn last year we found about a dozen common lizards of varying sizes clustered in the bottom of some of the terracotta pots we use for the tomatoes when we cleared the pots out - they had crawled in through the holes at the bottom and were snuggled in the spaces between the crocks I put in for drainage. So we made some lizard "hotels" by putting some crocks in a few old pots and covering them with earth, and they seem to have been quite successful.

Just come back from SW France where the garden of the house we stayed in was overrun with lizards - one even ran up my arm when I was sitting beside the pool. Sadly didn't have the camera on me.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by JT71

is that the same thing as a common lizard?

and I always thought the frogs I take great care in not disturbing were supposed to eat my slugs!!!!!!! or are there just too many slugs for my frogs to eat..there's usually four or five large frogs in and around my small pond.

Maybe you need hedgehogs instead?