Copy/paste Lizards

Fencepost of the Week #182

Occupied Post

Fencepost of the Week #165

Western Green Lizards

Western green lizards - Lacerta bilineata - from southern Switzerland.

Western green lizard - Lacerta bilineata - male

Western green lizard - Lacerta bilineata - female

Western green lizard - Lacerta bilineata - juvenile

Stripes

A young nihon tokage - Japanese skink - Plestiodon japonicus showing off its stripes and vivid blue tail. 

nihon tokage - Japanese skink - Plestiodon japonicus

While it is not the best camouflage, the stripes and the bright colour at the end conspire to cause predators to strike behind a moving skink's current position - either missing the target entirely or hitting the tail which the skink can detach in a life or death situation.

Kanahebi pt 2

Kanahebi - Takydromus tachydromoides

Here's a video of a kanahebi trying to pull a grub out of a rotten tree trunk. It seems to have an injured jaw.

Kanahebi - Takydromus tachydromoides

Kanahebi

Takydromus tachydromoides - kanahebi - Japanese grass lizard

Takydromus tachydromoides - kanahebi - Japanese grass lizard

Lizard Resuscitation Paisley

I found this cute & informative lizard health and safety sign on the internet today. A little bit of googling showed that it already has a long and illustrious career of being posted on the internet for giggles. There's even a tattoo...

The drawings are really quite special and so I give you: lizard resuscitation paisley *_*

Here it is:

Here's a clean, repeating tile if you need it for anything:

And the individual line drawings, just in case:

 

Dark Bush-Cricket

Dark Bush-cricket - Pholidoptera griseoaptera

Dark Bush-cricket - Pholidoptera griseoaptera

Hit a particularly rich vein of wildlife at sundown last Sunday - walking a fenceline festooned with animals making the most of the last sun-bathing oportunity of the day. As well as two dark bush-crickets and the viviparous lizard, there were dragon flies, scorpion flies, and a hornet ( though it was busy, not basking.)

Viviparous lizard - Zootoca vivipara

Backyard Reptiles

Lots of sun yesterday morning after a few rainy days - it brought all the reptiles out.

Viviparous Lizard - Zootoca vivipara

Slow Worm - Anguis fragilis 

Slow Worm - Anguis fragilis - with tiny, decorative red spider mite.

Shoreham Wall Lizard Colony

I recently learned that there is a colony of wall lizards - Podarcis muralis - living just along the coast from me. The next day I hopped on a bus and went to have a look.

The wall lizards were less numerous and harder to approach in the shingle of the nature reserve.

The colony is in Shoreham by the old fort. Although I did not see any lizards on the old fort itself, there were some in the adjoining shingle beach nature reserve and there were lots on the garden walls along Old Fort Road - I think I saw about 40 lizards on this one trip!

The pedestrian access alleyways running between Old Fort Road and the beach seemed to be particularly fertile lizard-watching turf.

Wall lizards are not native to mainland Britain. They do live in France, but many of these individuals had bold green and blue markings strongly suggesting they originated from somewhere further south - maybe Italy. (French wall lizards are mostly shades of brown.)

This is the only photo of a female wall lizard - they are smaller, less brightly coloured and more camera-shy than their mates. They are also more stripey, less spotty.

They really do like walls - they can scuttle across sheer surfaces in any direction with speed and confidence. They are among those lucky few animal species that can not only survive but actually prosper in urban environments.

Here's a website with more info on UK wall lizard populations.

 And here's another about non-native UK reptiles and amphibians more generally. http://alienencounters.narrs.org.uk/

Twisted Lizard

A little painting of a viviparous lizard - Zootoca vivipara. I've been looking at a lot of paintings by Keith Brockie recently - he's a genius.

Lounging Lizard

Fencepost of the Week #59

A wall lizard - Podarcis muralis - shirking its titular obligations in order to decorate this charming french fencepost.

Psammodromus

Wildlife Wednesday #45

Psammodromus algirius - Large Psammodromus

A lovely large lizard - engagingly inquizitive and perspicacious.

Wall Lizard

Wildlife Wednesday #44

Podarcis muralis - Common Wall Lizard

I wish Britain had wall lizards - it would substantially enhance my life if the walls of Brighton had these little fellows scurrying about on them whenever the sun was shining.

Sunset Lizzie

Black and White and Gecko

Wildlife Wednesdays #6

Moorish Gecko - Tarentola mauritanica

A moorish gecko catching a few rays at the mouth of its lair - a large letterbox. Moorish geckos thrive in urban environments.