I was very pleased to see this little lass yesterday, I had previously seen one scuttling away from my Tomato plants; but otherwise nothing this year.
There are certain creatures that one needs to see every year in order to know that all is OK with nature, and the big Green Lizards are in the list.
Amongst the others are Praying Mantis, Stick insects, Hoopoes, Cranes (arriving and leaving), Pine Martens, and Red Squirrels.
This female Lizard had gone onto the pool cover for a drink. I was only able to take this one shot before she ran away at great speed. She was about 12ins long including her tail.
I like to see our wildlife thriving. With all the herbicides and fertilisers being used all around us, one never knows if they will succumb. I hope she managed to raise a family this year.
24 comments:
I like to see the wildlife healthy and thriving as well. A few years ago as I was walking a block or two around my hotel in Osaka Japan it took me a few minutes to figure out what seemed so odd about the city...there were no living creatures in sight other than humans. No birds, no squirrels, no rabbits. It's a concrete jungle that doesn't support wild life. I enjoyed my trip there, but found that very odd and somewhat sad. -A.K.
Japan does have a terrible pollution problem, if I was a bird I certainly wouldn't want to live in one of their cities.
Big Greenie! You did well to get that photo of her, they are beautiful but very camera shy.
As soon as I moved forward for a better 'close-up', she belted!
I hope we are doing better with herbicides and fertilisers. The lizard is a decent size. Of course being Australia, our large lizards, goannas, run towards you to attack rather than away.
It seems as if every Aussie wild creature/fish/etc wants to kill you!
I haven't seen one of those green lizards here. We do have loads of other salamander types, stick insects and snails galore. It is very reassuring to see all this wildlife. Unfortunately the pheasants and quail have disappeared completely.
In the UK Pheasants are a common sight in household gardens. Here you only see them at the beginning of the hunting season when they're all shot (on the ground). They are bred, released, and shot. I keep saying to hunters, why not release a whole lot, and not shoot any for about 5 years. Then they would have a chance to breed and become wild.
You've reminded me I haven't seen a praying mantis for a couple of seasons now. I'll look more closely at the greenery around here, maybe I'll find some, or at least one.
I've noticed a diminution of the wildlife here this year. None of that can be attributed to locally used herbicides because agriculture has all but ceased here at the moment.
Rather more exotic than our local wildlife!
I tend to see them when I'm mowing the grass. I have to stop to let them escape!
That doesn't sound too good. Not a lot going on here either, just Chestnuts, some Sunflowers, and a little Maize. Otherwise they stay at home and do crosswords.
They are quite exotic. The males even more so as they have a bright blue chin, and are slightly bigger.
I miss fireflies. I have not seen them since my childhood.
I've seen them in Spain, but not here. Very decorative in the night sky.
So pretty …. Nothing like that here …. I just keep walking through spiders webs !!! XXXX
It's the Spiders webs that hold our house up!
I believe pine martens and red squirrels are both making a comback in some places in the UK - we have a few enclaves of red squirrle around us herel We don't of course have praying mantis - I have only ever seen one and it was I think in France and it was just on some railings in front of a house. I was so excited to see it
I'm always happy to see lizards, toads, etc. on our property. We don't use any pesticides altho I do see that some of our neighbors do. In fact, on our walk this morning, I rescued a little 6 inch snake that was lying in the sun on the sidewalk. Thought he might just dry up there... so moved him to the grass.
We have salamanders and they look similar to your lizard. In Massachusetts (US) the Mallard ducks are migrating south for the winter. They fly in a "V" formation as they head for warmer weather.
I'm sorry to say that rather like Hedgehogs, Pine Martins are often found dead on the roads. They have a silly way of running out in front of cars. Very sad.
I occasionally rescue small snakes from the pool. The bigger ones are wiser, but the little ones have a lot to learn.
Our Salamanders are black and yellow, and are rather scary looking creatures. We only see them after, or during, rain, but they're quite rare these days.
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