Thursday 10 April 2014

Le Lézard Vert

At least a couple of years ago Jane, Elizabeth's daughter came in from a walk round our garden and said " I've just seen a bright green lizard". We have seen them along the Richelieu park wall when out walking but never observed one in our own garden.

Until today that is...

I was picking up fallen sticks from beneath the Poplar trees when I saw a green flash run from the grass and round the bottom of the tree. I must have walked round the tree six times before I spotted him/her perfectly still in the fork of a branch...

After a quick dash for my camera surprisingly he/she was still there...

Elizabeth then appeared from in the cellar; secret wine drinker!! No, she was looking for some seeds. After showing her my photographs we proceeded to see if it was still around. We thought it had gone!

It is certainly not easy to spot against the green foliage.

or even just in the branches.

They are very sensitive to temperature, can grow up to 42cm in length and can live for up to 16/18 years. This one was about 20cms and as it was in the same area of the garden as the one seen by Jane we can only assume it is the same one or a relative!

If you want to know more about the Green Lizard see here, the site is in French but does translate OK. For an English version see here

NB We also saw the first Orange Tip of the year this afternoon in the garden.

2 comments:

Susan said...

Very nice. I've never been able to get a good photo of one of these. They disappear so quickly. BTW, the site you link to is mostly written by the bilingual Daniel Phillips. Why not link to his personal site, which has every page duplicated in both French and English, and is excellent: http://www.herpfrance.com/reptile/western_green_lizard_lacerta_bilineata.php

Colin and Elizabeth said...

Thanks Susan I have added the link.