Aren't lizards brilliant ! Before the boardwalk was put in at Flanders I used to see lizards regularly on the moss but only in glimpses. Now you can get a right good look just from a short stroll along the path. The other day I went round on an overcast day and the lizards were obviously needing to get out to warm up as I counted 46 individuals along the way. Of these only 2 were fully grown adults, the other 44 were all very small, nearly black young beasts that would have been born this year.
And the being born bit is a big surprise because most reptiles lay eggs. But our lizards the common lizard Zootoca vivipara is specially adapted to live more northerly than any other species of reptile, one of those adaptations is to give birth to between 3 and 11 live young. once hatched these quick settle in to catching small insects and start to grow. Males mature in 2 years while females take three. Our Flanders lizards have another 6 to 8 weeks to feed up before, depending on the weather, going into hibernation when it turns cold. On the Moss they can't hibernate to deep into the ground because of the high water table so they probably spend the winter in rotting piles of brash and the large hummocks ready to come out win April when spring warms up. They made be small but they are real wildlife that just about everyone can see if they are quiet and slow moving and in the right weather.
