I saw a lizard on Monday, by my backdoor, in the pile of mouldering leaves which
I’ve left untouched because the young frogs and toads seem to like it so much. I lifted up a log to see how these creatures were getting on, in the manner of a benevolent deity, and a tiny
lizard scampered away for cover. It was a Common Lizard, I think; too small and right-wing looking to be a Sand Lizard.
Later in the day I read up a bit more about lizards in the Guardian’s “Specieswatch” column, which I always enjoy because it is usually free of the bien pensant whining which afflicts most of the rest of the paper. Usually, but not on this occasion. The article was about the European Wall Lizard (podarcis muralis, since you asked), and the colonies of these creatures which have, through the hand of man, established themselves in Britain, to which country they are not indigenous. The writer was Paul Brown, who wrote: “…..so far 46 colonies have been recorded in Britain, as far north as Sheffield, although the majority are in the south, particularly along the cliffs of Dorset and at Ventnor on the Isle of Wight….”
All good so far; I remember seeing a wall lizard when I was on holiday in Bournemouth in June 1967.
Mr Brown continues: “Clearly the climate has become warm enough for the species to survive and thrive here, although it is thought that all the colonies are originally from lizards introduced deliberately as far back as the Victorian period or are escapees from collectors.”
Those are my italics. If you read that sentence back it makes no sense. The first part and the second part contradict each other. The lizard has not expanded its range, its population is no greater than it was in the 1960s and not terribly greater than it was in Victorian times. All of the lizards are descended from creatures deliberately introduced, some for much more than 100 years – so they have “survived” and “thrived” long before the climate allegedly became warmer. The climate has nothing whatsoever to do with it. But even though it contradicts the rest of his sentence, Mr Brown felt the need to make some genuflection to the subject of global warming. Odd.
Still, that’s enough lizards, ed. We have more important things to do, such as building upon our compendium of things which are either illnesses or not illnesses — and which I see has proved to be so useful for those people who either suffer from fibromyalgia or are under the impression they suffer from fibromyalgia, and which may one day rank as a reference work comparable to Gray’s Anatomy.
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