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Common Lizard Identification & Sightings

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Russell View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Russell Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Feb 2005 at 1:32pm

Hi, I came across the forum when looking for ID on the lizards my cat keeps bringing me.

I live on the cliffs overlooking the beach in Bude, Cornwall. My house backs on to clifftop dunes and I have a very bloodthirsty cat.

During the height of the summer she can often bring back 4 or 5 lizards a day. Usually she just eats the dropped tail and I rescue the casualty and put them back in the grass.

I've checked the IDs on the site and I'm pretty sure they're common lizards although several of them have been bright green/turqouise in colour. Does this suggest that they are sand lizards amongst them too?

She presented the first lizard of the year this morning, minus a head.

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Wolfgang Wuster View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Wolfgang Wuster Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Feb 2005 at 2:20pm
Russell,

Those are almost certainly "Common" lizards, they are the only lizard with legs found in Cornwall. "Common" lizards can be greenish. Check the belly, common lizards are yellowish or orange nderneath, sand lizards are whitish.

In the passage above, I put "Common" in quotation marks for a reason: they are nowhere near as common as they were in the past, and I'm afraid one reason for that is almost certainly "bloodthirsty" cats. Given the millions and millions of cats in the country, even a few lizards a year per cat can make quite a difference. Loss of tail does impact on the survival and reproduction of the lizards, and many that are released may have suffered internal injuries that will eventually cause slow, painful death.

Now, I don't want to lecture you, but I would suggest that everyone has a responsibility towards their immediate environment and to other creatures, a responsibility that includes minimising one's negative impact. In my view, that includes the negative impact caused by pets. I personally could not live happily in the knowledge that an animal I am responsible for is killing large numbers of wild animals in the surrounding area, and I suspect most readers on this forum will share that view. For the sake of the wildlife around you, you should perhaps rethink the way you keep that cat and think of ways of restricting its hunting activities in a manner compatible with its quality of life.

Cheers,

WW
Wolfgang Wüster

School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor

http://pages.bangor.ac.uk/~bss166/
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Alan Hyde View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Alan Hyde Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Feb 2005 at 4:09pm
Couldn't agree more Wolfgang .

Cat owners should be edjucated the same way that dog owners are being *Place Smilie with rolling eyes here*.

The Cat/ conservation dillema is one which I have often pondered over , seeing as I love ALL wildlife and felines also.

I did post my top tips for cat owners here before , but deleted the message, as at the time I really could not be fussed with long debates .

If you do keep cats ,here are a few ideas that i've picked up from many years of keeping.

1- Make your garden enclosed with high fencing and high gates . Make your garden feline friendly with lots of nooks and crannys and trees .



2- Domestic cats are fussy feeders , feed them well , not with cheap supermarkets own brands.

3- I also feed our cats twice weekly on tinned tuna fish with the brine drained off.
A well fed (Not Fat) cat is much more content and less likely to wander and hunt .
I can honestly say I can't remember the last time any of our six cats killed anything , they just can't be fussed.

4- Find an area in your garden and turn the earth over at least once a week . Cats cannot resist fresh earth and will use your garden as their toilet , meaning once again they will not wander , pester gardeners , or hunt.

5-Have a cat flap . A cat that is shut out for hours on end wanders and trys to find stimulation (Hunting)

6-Get your cat neutered or spayed.



7- most of all , make sure everyone within the household wants a cat . All of the above help towards making a calmer more contented animal . Cats that are loved , fed well, and feel comfortable at home definitely hunt less , and are less likely to wander.

8-Have your cat wear a quick easy release collar with a bell . You may need to replace these reguarly as they do fall of easy , but they help to alert other animals to their presense.
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Davew View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Davew Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Mar 2005 at 3:36pm
First Common Lizard of the year for me here in Mid Cheshire today with just a single sunning itself. Compares well with 17th March 2004, April 11th 2003 and 26th March 2002. How are you lot doing down south?
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Peter Vaughan View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Peter Vaughan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Mar 2005 at 7:00pm

First Common Lizard sighting for me this year was on Saturday 19 March at my local nature reserve in north Hampshire - but that was just a fleeting glimpse of one making for cover. 

This afternoon I was able to watch a couple basking for several minutes. 

My first sighting of Grass Snakes in 2005 were on 16 March (the first warm day we'd had after the weeks of cold weather).

 

 

Peter Vaughan
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote administrator Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Mar 2005 at 9:42pm

Viviparous lizards were out in force on the Essex seawall today (25th March). Total of 42 in 1 kilometre transect (Seaward side). I'm now getting quite good at falling down the seawall.

My first grass snakes and viviparous lizards in Essex this year were 23rd March when conditions were superb for visual survey, a bout of flu prevented me collecting data earlier in the month for comparison.

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Alan Hyde View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Alan Hyde Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Aug 2005 at 12:37pm
Not Much moving this afternoon on Ash Ranges . I saw Two common Lizards (pics to come) and one vole .
O-> O+>
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johnc79 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote johnc79 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Apr 2006 at 8:41am
sorry i read that wrong!

Edited by johnc79
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Alan Hyde View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Alan Hyde Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Nov 2007 at 3:00am
While out walking our dogs yesterday I noticed the common lizards are still out and about
O-> O+>
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Ray999 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ray999 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Nov 2007 at 7:51am

 

 

Last sighting to present in the Blackpool area is 25/10/.

 

Ray

ray999
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