Common lizards are fairly widespread - you can see them in sunny warm spots in most grassy and scrubby habitats, but especially on heaths and rough coastlines. About cm in length, they are quite variable in colour and their skin is covered in tiny scales, forming patterns of spots and stripes to camouflage them into their surroundings.
Most are grey, brown or bronze, but some adult lizards can be olive-green and there are some rare all-black melanistic versions about. They can be seen from early spring through until late autumn, but chances are particularly good on sunny mornings in April and October. They often have favoured basking spots, which are on top of or underneath a material that heats up quickly, like dry bare ground, dead grass, stones or man-made materials such as corrugated iron.
They need lots of food to get into breeding condition ahead of summer, and equally lots in autumn to fatten up before hibernation in winter. They bed down for the cold months in groups, amongst rocks or dead wood and occasionally they may take advantage of milder patches of weather to come out and top up their energy reserves. I wonder if, like hedgehogs, lizards fall foul of Bonfire Night — a lovely warm pile of dry logs to hibernate in and bask on, until they get more heat than they bargained for!
If you have a chance for a closer look you could count the number of toes on the front pair of legs — newts have four toes and Common Lizards have five. Find out more about the native and non native reptiles you can see in the UK here.
Sand Lizard Photo: Tracy Farrer Shades of brown and grey, with males taking on green colours on sides in breeding season Usually two strong stripes down the back Dark spots, ocelli marking that resembles an eye or mottling on sides. Palmate Newt Photo: Mark Rowe Common Lizards are much more likely to scurry away very quickly when disturbed, whereas newts will make slower, lumbering movements.
I saw my first Viviparous Lizard of on January 2nd showing how quick they are to emerge from hibernation on even the mildest of days. The Viviparous Lizard is the only native reptile found in Ireland and it is also the only native reptile on the Isle of Man.
The broken pattern on this male Common Lizard's tail shows that the lizard has 'dropped' its tail at some point to evade capture from a predator. The tail has re-grown well in this case.
This a defence mechanism adopted by all the lizards found in the UK. This cumbersome gravid female gave birth to ten young shortly after this photo was taken. It is rare for these lizards to give birth to more young than this. A clutch of is more usually the case. The word "viviparous" means to give birth to live young that are fully developed within the adult females body prior to birth. The female Common Lizards give birth to live young.
They do not lay eggs. They are born encased in a thin membrane which the young lizards quickly free themselves from. This juvenile Viviparous Lizard is just a few days old and is already totally independent and hunting food for itself.
Juveniles are usually very dark brown in colour. They tend to have an almost metallic bronze appearance. Viviparous Lizards are quite brave and will often bask quite openly and return to the same basking spot as quickly as 10 minutes after being disturbed and scared off.
Viviparous Lizards are often found in small groups. These two juveniles have not yet developed their full adult colouration. The young lizard in the foreground of this photo has dropped it's tail to avoid being caught by a predator which was most likely a corvid or a domestic cat.
One of 23 Viviparous Lizards I recorded on this grassland site in Kent on a warm sunny morning Most were seen basking on logs, rock-piles or in the grass. A couple were found under refugia.
This dumped sheet of corrugated iron quickly absorbed the sun's rays and made an ideal basking spot for this male Viviparous Lizard. Sand Lizard Lacerta agilis. They are restricted to just a few places across England and can be found in Dorset, Hampshire, West Sussex and Surrey on heathland at dune sites. There is also an isolated population resident at the Lancashire coast at Sefton.
This northern population varies slightly in appearance. Sand Lizards are larger and stockier than than our Common Lizards and can grow to around 20cm in length.
Despite the latter part of their scientific name "agilis" these lizards are not as fast or agile as their smaller, slimmer and longer-legged cousins the Common Lizard. The males usually have bright green markings along their flanks.
Out of the mating season the two sexes are harder to tell apart. The green markings are much less obvious but males are stockier in build and have larger heads. The eye of the male sits only about a third of the way along its head nearer the neck but the female's eye sits about half way along the head.
This young adult male Sand Lizard basks on a log pile built as part of the excellent land management at a heathland reptile site in Surrey. It was photographed during May when the males exhibit their mating colours with the vivid green sides of their head and body.
Sand Lizard eggs are laid in clutches of usually around end of May or the start of June. The grass snake is our longest snake, but don't worry if you find one in the compost heap - it's harmless! Look out for this…. As a charity we rely on memberships. They help us look after over 2, nature reserves and protect the animals that call them home.
Please consider becoming a member of your local Wildlife Trust today. Common lizard. Share facebook twitter email whatsapp. Common lizard Scientific name: Zootoca vivipara.
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