Description

Adults have slender bodies with an angular pointed snout. They are usually brown, though their colour may vary.

Distribution

These lizards are found across mainland Britain and Ireland but are fragmented and patchily distributed.

Habitat

These lizards are often found in open habitats, such as open woodland, hedge banks and sparse natural grassland. They prefer areas with free draining soils and a sunny aspect, which are habitats also preferred by their invertebrate prey. Common Lizards are also found on artificial habitats such as railways embankments, road verges.

Reproduction

Lizards mate shortly after hibernation, and after 3 months of gesticulation the females give birth to 4-10 live young, rather than laying eggs like most other lizards do.

Behaviour

Because they are cold-blooded they need to bask in the sun to reach their optimum body temperature, especially in the spring and autumn. Although they bask on the ground, they often use log piles because of numerous escape routes they provide if a potential predator passes by, including humans. If they are caught a lizard can shed its tail to allow it to escape, which later re-grows. These lizards hibernate between October and early April, including places like underground burrows, in rocks or log piles.