Sunday 31 August 2008

Common Lizard


Emerging from the heather











To show its size

Something different today when I was fortunate enough to get pictures of one of our reptiles the Common Lizard. It was I think the first one we have seen this year and not where I expected to see one, on the fence rail in front of one of the seats at Raptor View Point, Wykeham Forest.

A nice sunny morning early on it was getting quite misty by late morning spoiling possible sightings of raptors.

This was a quick visit before going home to strip the wallpapere off the longe, we are in the middle of a rewire!

Anyway the lizard appeared on the rail to the left of us out the top of the heather bush, it went back down the bush once before coming onto the rail again. I took some pictures at distance before moving nearer but I was surprised it did not move off as usually the slightest movement they detect and they are gone. Perhaps being on the fence rail helped.

I did think this lizard was one of the biggest we have seen.

There was a lot of grasses and grass heads between the lens and the lizard but it was nice to get pictures today before picking up the wallpaper scraper.

8 comments:

Jax Westmoreland said...

Nicely captured Mike. We haven't seen many at all this year.
Jax

Anonymous said...

They used to be regular around the viewpoint in previous years Mike, but it's a while since I've seen one there.

Nice shots.

Dave

Mike Randall Bird Photography said...

Thanks for your comments.
We normally see one or two each year so it was nice to see this one.
Regards
Mike

Ken Conger Photography said...

As much as I enjoy doing birds, ended up with some reptiles from the weekend as well. Enjoyed looking through you posts.

Marcus Conway said...

Good lizard shots Mike. I understand one of the females is heavily preganant too so there could be more on the way...
www.ebirder.net

Ars longa, vita brevis said...

i disabled picture showing in browser to be able to visit this blog, i hate lizards,i was doing internet search to see which place in europe doesnt have them to imigrate there.... not jocking, where i live they are 'king', they hide in my kitchen, they reproduce easily, filling the house.. i live a nightmare, they are (to me) DISGUSTING, and they make frog noises during night that makes me want to puke...

I lived in Hull, by the river with some grass around, all i saw is mice and rat, never a lizard, altho it kills me to know they are also in England i think they are far far fewer than in cyprus

animtreebird said...

Very beautiful lizard. Nice pset of photos. :)))

Mike Randall Bird Photography said...

Thanks very much for all your comments.