RAUK - Archived Forum - Hibernation time..

Not to mention anthills which I have found lizards within during November - up to 7 lizards 3 adult females and 4 juveniles

this was after 740 animals were collected from a small site dotted with anthills - the anthills were the last refuge left for a destructive search - so we took apart 80 or so anthills thus found the 7 lizards within ant chambers - which are not used by the ants during the autumn or winter they are found much deeper down in the ground

Jon

Its November 26th, a nice sunny day, and three juvenile Common Lizards still active on the Merseyside dunes. Shows its still worth looking.

Mike Brown

What effect does this spell of mild weather we are having have on our native herps.I would imagine they arn,t in deep hibernation yet so are probably more active than they might normally be.

Does this use up more of their reserves so causing a problem later in the winter?.

Do they have to be above a certain temp before they can digest their food like other reptiles?.

Any thoughts

Ray

James common lizards have a huge distribution across the UK and can be found in many many places. You need to learn where the right places are so that you can look for yourself.

Here are some tips.

You can find common lizards in grassland, heaths, along sea defences , hedges and even in my back garden.

They will bask on logs, fence posts and particularly old tyres that have been left lying about.

To spot them walk slowly with the sun to your back. Walk towards areas where the sun reaches the ground and the features mentioned above are present. Approach very quietly and look well ahead.

Try this in the spring when you get a chance.

Some of the best sites will be old industrial sites (also known as brownfield).

Railway lines, you may have dissused railway lines near you that are now walks open to the public, sunny verges of these are ideal.

Seawalls or coastal paths. Again look at banks and verges and keep a special lookout for old tyres catching the sun, logs and fence posts.

Hope that helps.

If you get lucky James you might find places with adders, grass snakes, slow-worms and common lizards all together, but as arvensis said really you must start to look yourself, then YOU will know where to find them.

Last year a land manager thought he would be clever and 'withhold' the location of adder hibernation areas at a wildlife reserve.. I had located 4 of the hibernation areas and recorded plenty of adders two hours later.. I could do this because of experience. I spent many many hours looking without seeing when I was young, until eventually I started to find reptiles. I believe this is the only way to get the feel of where the animals will be. Don't believe it either if people tell you there is nothing there.. if they don't know how to look how do they know for sure?