Found this wee guy up the Clyde on Saturday. Got pretty excited as it though it might be a Sand Lizard, which are very rare and only found in the south of england.However after checking I'm fairly sure it's just a common lizard with very green colouration.
That was the only thing I caught!
Also saw an Osprey flying low above the river holding a decent trout.
Wow very cool. I knew about the English ones, but I didn't think we had lizards in Scotland! :shock:
Quote from: breac uaig on April 20, 2009, 08:10:18 PM
............ see them basking on a hot day............
....for about two seconds :). I saw a couple yesterday, with a camera in my hands. No chance of getting a picture though. Well done.
.D.
This wee guy was pretty friendly.He walked on to my hand and everything.
Usually common lizards are browny-gold coloured. I've never see one such a vivid green before.
Nor I.
From the HCT, or Froglife as they now seem to be known :?.
"Typical adult size is approx 15cm (including its tail) and coloration is commonly some shade of brown with patterns of spots or stripes. Unusual colour variations are not uncommon, everything from yellow through various shades of green to jet black are encountered."
I've seen them approaching black. I think I'd remember a yellow one :banana.
.D.
Good pic, ive never seen one of those myself :(, what sort of habitat u find them in?
Hi Tam,
Normally you get them around moorland and woodland, but this one was just running around a grassy field next to the Clyde.
Cheers
Paul
Stacks of them on Islay. They like to sun themselves on the road :shock: Probably not got the biggest brain :lol:
Norm
QuoteWow very cool. I knew about the English ones, but I didn't think we had lizards in Scotland!
There are actually two species of lizards native to Scotland, the legless Slow worm, Anguis fragilis and the common or viviparous lizard, Lacerta Vivipara, so called because it's one of the few lizards which gives birth to live young rather than laying eggs.
Paul
Where on the Clyde did you see this lizard? It does seen unusually coloured for a common lizard. I've always been fascinated by reptiles, seen lizards in various places in Scotland but no where as far south as the Clyde. I'm sure they're present in other areas of southern Scotland but the Clyde valley seems the wrong type of habitat and if they were there in any numbers I would have spotted them, I'm tuned in to lizard spotting.
John
Hi John,
aye I love reptiles too. I found this lizard right next to the river in a grassy field between Abington and Crawford.Thought it was unusual habitat for him too.I suppose there is moorland not too far away.
I've seen plenty of common lizards in the Galloway hills,along the coast near Ballantrae and on Arran.
The only places i've found slow worms are around Aberfoyle, and on the Isle of Bute.One of my ambitions is to visit Ailsa Craig as it's supposedly hoaching with them.
cheers
Paul
Went hunting for Adders at Loch Lee weekend before last,no snakes but saw a lizard.I'm told there are slow worms up there but I've not seen one.
Fantastic! I never knew lizards were so common in Scotland. I'd heard that there was a population of sand lizards in the Pentland Hills. I've never seen any out here in East Lothian, but will be much more vigilant now that they appear to be fairly widely distributed. Are there any reptiles on the Western Isles, and in particular the Uists?
Hi Dunbar,
I believe the only reptile present in the Outer Hebrides is the slow worm.
There is an introduced colony of Sand Lizards on Coll.
cheers
Paul
Quotesand lizards in the Pentland Hills
I had to google that one! Didn't cone across anything conclusive. Wouldn't be surprised if someone had tried to introduce them to some of the Islands but I'm sure any lizards found in the Pentlands were Common Lizards, wrong habitat.
Quote from: TrueScot on April 23, 2009, 01:59:02 AM
Have a look about the old iron fencing Tam on Loch Thom they are normally more noticeable in warmer summer months and are a more a rusty colour.(maybe they eat the rusty fence lol)
Adders are also present not so far away though they have declined in number in recent years.
thanks for info will do :8)
Seen a couple o common lizards, between Balintum and Kirkmicheal. A couple of weeks back while i was building a stone wall, they were basking on a cope stone.
I remember a few years ago while putting up a deer fence ( it was a dear fence for the owner o the big house as well), on the south shore of Loch Rannoch, i put my big size ten down and when i lifted it, what i thought was a very wriggly worm turned out to be the tail of a lizard. I think they shed their tail to distract predetors, while they leg it. They will grow another tail. :D :D
All the best Fin.