Despite the fine summer we've enjoyed, the population of common lizards seems to have plummeted this year. Usually, we see them whenever the sun's out, basking on the rocks that form the drystone wall along the side of our property, but this year we've hardly seen any. That there are fewer is supported by the activities of our younger cat: she hasn't been up to her usual recreational activity of bringing them in to the back yard to play with them. Sometimes she ends up eating them, and is promptly sick, but mostly she gets bored and leaves them chewed up and sorry for themselves.
We've seen a few recently. The first, and slightly larger (above), looked as if it had lost its tail and was growing a new one.
The second, a rather smart greenish one, was much shyer, only peeping out briefly from its hiding place before disappearing.
Then, just as we thought it really was getting a bit late in the season for the lizards to be out, we came across four, all on the same rock. One scuttled quickly away, but the other three stayed long enough to have their picture taken.
Species numbers do seem to fluctuate from year to year, but perhaps the decline in lizard numbers is connected to the rise in the local adder population, as these lizards are one of the adder's prey species. Whatever the reason, it's been a sad year without the lizards to watch.
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