Lizard

[Roman White]

I was watching through my photo archives and have found this guy.
It was in June 2007, in my garden


There are a lot of them running across the gardens during summer...

[John9929]

Roman, that's a lovely looking creature, do they bite? I notice you're keeping your fingers at a safe distance!

[jjb]

Great colours brought out by a brilliant image Roman nicely done.

jonathan.

[Roman White]

Much thanks John and Jonathan.  

No, they cannot bite because they simply have no teeth and they have weak jaws.
The snakes are more dangerous creatures. Here I found one from autumn 2004.
Grass Snake (Natrix natrix)

(scanned, so not quite a good one)

[John9929]

No, they cannot bite because they simply have no teeth.

Ok Roman, I sure walked into that one

[jgs001]

Lovely, bright vibrant colours Roman, unusual looking creature

[Roman White]

Thanks John (jgs001). But I cannot call it unusual...

[martinastro]

Cool shots Roman. Nice looking Lizard. I have three of them in my kitchen - an Iquana and two waterdragons. They are pets though and not wild nor native to Ireland.

Must be cool knowing those are part of the land around you. I can't abide large spiders though!, you get any in Ukraine?

[Roman White]

Thanks Martin

Must be cool knowing those are part of the land around you. I can't abide large spiders though!, you get any in Ukraine?

Yes, I'll repeat, they're usual everywhere in Ukraine. Here I found some info about it:
"The European Green Lizard (Lacerta viridis) is a large lizard distributed across mid European latitudes from the north of the Iberian peninsula to as far east as Ukraine. It is often to be seen sunning itself on rocks or lawns, or sheltering amongst bushes..." (read more at Wikpedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_green_lizard

But no giant spiders!  I know that the largest ones can be up to 10cm in size, but they are very rare and live only in the southern Ukraine. I also don't like them a lot.

[brianb]

BTW we do have lizards (but not snakes) in Ireland! I found this fellow sunning himself on the path a couple of hundred yards from the visitor centre at the Giants Causeway a few years ago.

Sorry about the poor quality, they don't hang around.

This is the so called common lizard (not very common) Lacerta vivapara also known as the vivaparous lizard as the female fives birth to live young rather than laying eggs - this explains how they manage to survive in this climate; it's the only native Irish reptile. This one was a big one, approximately 12 cm long, the tail is more than half the total length. They're very elusive & well camouflaged, I nearly stepped on this one before realising it wasn't a twig!

There must be a few around because I've occasionally found detached tails; predation by cats, crows & the occasional kestrel must be a problem to these little critters. Quite what they do during the long cool autumn, winter & spring seasons, I've no idea. Hibernate I guess.

[Roman White]

It looks very nice, Brian.  BTW, Lacerta vivapara also exists in Ukraine, but it is very rare, I've never seen them

[martinastro]

Great stuff Brian. I never even knew we had Lizards in Ireland. Quite fascinating, I must look into it and see if I can spot one. I think the image is good. Cheers.