Agilis along canford cliffs, Dorset

Hi all,

This afternoon I wandered along canford cliffs looking for Podarcis muralis, but didnt see many due to cold wind and intermittent sun. What I did see rather unexpectedly was 10+ adult L agilis in the space of about 200 metres, a very nice sight to see as I thought the muralis presence has hit them hard.

Rob

Hi Rob nice to hear that you see some LA sightings in the Canford cliff area the human population over the last 50 years has had a drastic habitation affect within the area. keith

well I was going to look for sand lizards just west of Boscombe but didn't have time - however, I did manage half an hour at Rob's place, ie the foot of Canford Cliffs.  In spite of warm and sunny weather - 22degC plus - I saw 10 sand lizards in a 100m stretch of dune/heather at the foot of the cliffs.  I was really pleased to see a hatchling sandie, too, in spite of wall lizards also being present in the same habitat - worth a study, perhaps, to see if wall lizards are genuinely impacting on the sand lizards or whether it's a question of the habitat in other parts of Bournemouth being better for wall lizard than sand lizard?  anyway, some photos below.  Will post an update on some other Dorset wall lizard populations separately in the next few days.


female sand lizard at Canford Cliffs


male sand lizard at Canford Cliffs


hatchling sand lizard at Canford Cliffs


male wall lizard at Canford Cliffs