HAVE YOU SEEN OUR LIZARDS?

Here at Burnham Nurseries, there are occasional sightings of lizards – usually in the roof space of the area we call ‘Orchid Paradise’ where the fish pond is. It is always worth casting your eyes upwards to see if any are around!

One of our café staff captured a video of two lizards outside on the patio in July 2023. The lizards were busy catching (and eating) flying insects! DWT (Devon Wildlife Trust) were contacted for help with identification. 

DWT identified them as Wall Lizards (Podarcis muralis). They grow up to 20cm long are there are two forms – the green backed and the brown backed (both have been seen here at the Nursery). This species is not understood to be a native UK species. They are native to mainland Europe and have been introduced in a number of areas in the UK (mostly in the South) - either through deliberate or accidental releases.

Their ideal habit is dry stone walls. Common Wall Lizards are not necessarily a threat to our native lizard populations, a lot depends on where they are located and if there are native reptile species already present or not.

DWT told us of the Surrey Amphibian Reptile Group (SARG) which is a non-profit-making wildlife conservation organization. SARG focuses on the care and preservation of wild, native reptiles and amphibians and runs an ongoing national project on Wall Lizards. They provide a wealth of information about these reptiles and record/map locations (all this is available on their website https://surrey-arg.org.uk  ). According to SARG, apparently there are only a few other records of this reptile species in this area. So, quite exciting!

We have also reported the sightings to the DBRC (Devon Biodiversity Records Centre).


(photo: Laura Crichton - wall lizard at Burnham Nurseries 20th July 2023)

 (With thanks to DWT and SARG for their help and information)