Lizards

[Jenny]

Now I have zilch knowledge of lizards but this hot weather (yes, it even got to 29C on Mull the other day!! - too hot for midgies!) seems to be bringing them out of the woodwork! Seen the occasional one basking on rocks, etc., before but lately (whilst doing some jungle clearance), they seem to be using the gaps in our dry stone wall - is this because the air's so dry that the moss and earth helps them keep cool - as well as offering a food source?? Advice welcomed, please!

[Kerry L]

Hi Jenny
Dry stone walls are their perfect home. I wanted to attract lizards, so have built dry stone walls in the back garden. It seemed a natural option as our garden slopes down and has been terraced. The former occupants used only a small amount of wood to mark the paths, and the soil kept washing onto the paths and disappearing, so we got some nice Portland Stone (some had fossils) and I built up the walls. I don't think there is much in the walls apart from pesky ant colonies and vetch (some frogs like to hibernate in them), but in the stone pile that I haven't got around to using, we had lizards two years ago - but no sign of them since then. I don't know if you get slow worms in Mull, but if you do, you might find them in your wall too. I have always wanted those - great for scaring my mother, who thinks they are snakes! Speaking of snakes, we had one in the compost - I was highly delighted. He man was decided to turn compost and was confronted by this boa constrictor of record size about to strike him and eat him! The children were not impressed and went back to the TV, while I looked in the wildlife book to see what it was. I knew it wasn't an adder or a grass snake, so thought it might be a smooth snake (seen the other two before). Actually it was a neighbours pet corn snake. Beautifully marked and just over a foot long, D picked Cornelius up and said "where have you been, you naughtly boy". Her son had a habit of taking his pet out at bed time, falling asleep and so the snake escaped. This time he had got out of the house, and passed through 2 more houses in between (sneaking past Barney the spaniel) and finally into our garden some 6 months later! Cornelius would have had a heck of a job trying to eat He man! But he was a cute little thing and I just had to hold him. D said that he had grown, so must have been living off insects. He man resisted the urge to run away (his normal reaction) from the "monster";).
Regards, Kerry