RAUK - Archived Forum - Particularly Bright Wall Lizard

Hi,

Just got back from 10 days Reptiling/Butterflying/Dragonflying etc in Dorset and then Norfolk. Mostly a total washout but two sunny days gave me ample time to see all six naturals within three hours. Additionally saw several Wall Lizards at Bournemouth including the following brightly coloured individual. Is this as bright as they get, must admit I've never seen one even close to this before. Incidentally survived my first Adder strike - it missed!!!

Wow that is a bright one!. I'll attach a more 'usual' one (Ventnor, mid April) for contrast.

Gets the adrenalin pumping eh, when adders strike ? :P

"Gets the adrenalin pumping eh, when adders strike ? "

Don't know about adrenalin, certainly made my bladder spasm  I'm more used to Wall Lizards on Portland, Dorset which are generally , in my experience, quite dull. Your individual would have been bright for Portland. Perhaps the Bournemouth ones are more prone to the extreme colouration end of the spectrum - anyone have any experience here? I did see five others that day but mostly fleeting females. Also saw a mad German Woman taking some tadpoles for a walk but that's another story.

Hi Dave

I have seen many Wall Lizards along the Bournemouth cliffs and while there is a wide colour range from grey through to various shades of green it is not uncommon for them to be this bright (a feature which is repeated in the Shoreham colony). I am attempting to upload two pictures, one of a similarly bright male and another showing that even the occasional female can try pretty hard to match it!

Mick,

I'd be very interested in any news of a colony at Kidbrooke, as that's pretty close to where I was dragged up. Having some difficulty imagining where they could be, but I've been away a long time !

Anybody have any recent(ish) info regarding the Farnham colony in Surrey ? which is, (embarassingly) about 10 minutes walk from my house.

I've not gotten to the bottom of the Farnham colony as yet. I'd heard they were supposedly at the Castle, but I did chat to the English Heritage warden, and the head gardener, neither of whom had ever seen lizards there.

My best guess is that the colony was actually based on a nearby estate, some big ones around here with nice high old walls. I'll ask about locally and update the thread.

Hi Dave

I am not sure which is the Toft Zigzag but if it is to the East of Boscombe Pier I would be extremely interested. We have seen them right up to the Pier on the Western side, but to the best of my knowledge there have been no preious sightings apart from one tentative maybe by myself a year or two ago to the East. Do you have a copy of that photograph by any chance?

Hi,

I appreciate you dont know me but rest assured it's a def Sand Lizard sorry about the pic quality I haven't sorted my shots out yet and this a strongly compressed version but hopefully adequate. The Toft Zigzag is the one about 200 yards west of Boscombe pier, the first one you come to walking west from the pier so it sounds like you're already aware of their presence. I was rather surprised as the habitat didn't seem right. There was alittle question about the sex/age but I'm assuming that as there's no green whatsoever and it was the same size as other obvious adults seen at other sites earlier in the day that it's an adult female?

Also thought I'd add the following. Two of four seen (2 ad & 2imm). I have much better shots of the male and one of the immatures but this is unfortunately the best showing the male and female.

Many thanks Dave.

Shot is more than good enough to confirm it is a Sand Lizard. Its a few years since I last surveyed that area (last of several years starting at the Poole end and working along the entire cliff to Boscombe Pier!) Were extensive numbers of Sandies along much of the cliff including (smaller numbers) in badly degraded habitat. Much of the habitat towards the eastern (pier) end of that range was badly damaged by the local council in a misguided and totally useless effort to stabilise the cliff!

Nice shot of the Greens as well - I have never managed to get a pair together!

All the best

Re. the Kidbrooke wall lizard colony.  At one point the numbers on this site exceeded (to my estimation) well over a thousand in all age classes.

The sites on which they were most numerous (the remains of demolished MoD buildings bordering the old A2, Rochester Way, SE3) became redeveloped.  The firm of consultants were employed to remove the lizards, and they did not disclose where they were moved to.  Although, bearing in mind it is illegal to re-release these animals into the wild, the options were probably very limited.  At the time of the siteÆs demolition some hatchlings were still emerging from an exposed sand layer underneath concrete capping.  Some still exists on a few surrounding sites and surrounding private gardens.  Many of the larger remaining sites, for example the Maritime Museum's Reserve Collection buildings (where they had never been as numerous as on the original MoD site), are also earmarked for future development.  The appearance of the lizards was very similar to the photographs on these pages.