Common Lizards seen by the Path
Posted: 20 August 2015
Close to the house the path round the grounds has a topping of wood chippings which are prevented from spreading with logs placed on each side of the path. It was the first time that I recall ever seeing a lizards - and I don't just mean at Ruston House - but that is clearly what they were, sunbathing on the logs.
I imagine it is a perfect spot for them. The vegetation besides the path provides both shelter from the breeze and a place in which they can quickly hide and also, being on the north side of the path, in the full midday sun providing the best possible warming for them.
I read that they give birth to live young in July that are black in colour and just over an inch long. Perhaps that is why some of those I photographed seemed darker that the larger ones. As the logs are about five inches in diameter the largest of those seen in these photographs are clearly fully mature adults.
