Team Common Lizard

Lacerta vivipara 2017/18 Common Lizard undergrad dissertations at the University of Southampton Supervised by Dr Judith Lock Linked with the PhD of Rachel Gardner There are three projects! Click the links to learn more: Best vegetation to live in by Rebekah White Preferred refugia by Gareth Taylor Effects of radio tagging by Mitchell Cooke Click here to ask us any questions!

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Hawthorns Pilot Week

This week begins with adlib sampling and getting an idea of where the lizards are. Three were spotted in hotspot 1!

Can you see two of them in the pictures above?

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One week to go!

The dissertation at Hawthorns Urban Wildlife centre begins on Monday. 

The purpose of this project is to see which type of vegetation is best for the lizards to live in. This will be done by seeing which area allows them to express the most of their behavioural repertoire, which is what you would expect to see when the lizards are at their ‘most comfortable’.

More details about this project can be found here. Here we goooo!

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Catch!

Gareth’s second catch! But, unfortunately again, it’s not quite old enough to be an adult. So, this one had to go back, despite how pretty it is! Individuals need to be at least 5g for the radio-tagging project. This is because the tags need to be 5% of the lizard’s weight, and a radio tag weighing less than 0.25g is unrealistic.

The second photo is a yearling that loves this one particular mat. If it was scared off it, it would return in just a few minutes... let’s see how natural selection goes for this one!

So, we still have a grand total of... zero adults in the viv. The weather has worsened again, but hopefully there’ll be another chance soon. 2 catches and 4 near misses is still a hopeful start!

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100,000 juveniles

... and I’m only slightly exaggerating! We have now reached 4 near-catches of adults in Hut Wood - some attempts painfully close, and all very tension-filled. These lil ones have given us big clues to where their parents may be. 

We think these ones are all yearlings, as there seem to be groups of smaller, blacker ones around too - some only an inch or so long. These ones are becoming browner, with a colouring pattern from head to tail down their backs, and are about 4 inches long.

It’s been amazing seeing these guys come out basking, hunting flies and running through the grass. I’m sure there’ll be loads more photos of them to come!

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Spotted!

Rachel got this nice picture of one of the lizards (and very nearly caught it too)! This one was basking completely flat on one of our mats, trying to absorb as much sunlight as possible. 

Unfortunately, none have been caught yet, but with better weather we should have better opportunities. Lots of tiny, black juveniles were around today though, which was very exciting.

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The Hut Wood search continues...

The challenging weather means the lizards are still being heard and not seen. Sad face. Nevertheless, we’re powering on and heading out again later, and it already seems warmer... will today be the day?

Cameras (and lizard boxes) at the ready!

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The Hut Wood lizards 

These dark mats will be great spots for the lizards to bask in the sun, hopefully making it easier for us to catch them. Then, we can take them to Chilworth walled garden for the refugia and radio tagging projects, and get going!

Okay, we haven’t SEEN any yet... but over the past few days, Rachel has taken us out to show us the best spots to lay out mats, and gave them GPS marks. We’ve heard the distinct lizard-y rustling in the bushes as we went, so they are in there somewhere! 

We’re now going to keep checking the mats daily, aiming for times of good weather and optimum temperature. 

Due to the storms through the night, this morning the forest paths were caked in deep mud - up to about 6 inches in places, meaning we had to almost wade across to each of the locations. It will be worth it though - watch this space!

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Photo: Alamy Stock Photo A34G7M www.alamy.com

Baby common lizards at Hawthorns!

After a meeting with Andy Welch, Land Management Ecologist at Hawthorn Gardens, it was revealed that many of the resident female lizards are pregnant. This means that by the time observations begin, there should be lots of juveniles around! 

He mentioned that he’d often seen them grouped up in the sun, or off on their own as they start to disperse. Sometimes, they spend so long in the sun that they actually damage or kill themselves, as if they don’t have the innate response to move back into the shade when it gets too hot. 

This gave me the idea for an extra branch to my project. There is little information about the behaviour of juvenile common lizards, and how this differs from the mature individuals.

This is an area I can explore within the rest of the project! 

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Hawthorns Urban Wildlife Centre

Took a quick trip in the rain to see the Hawthorns Garden, where I’ll be spending quite a bit of time over the next few months. Didn’t get to see any of the lizards this time, but not long now! 

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Testing

Testing