Common Lizard (Zootoca vivipara)
Common Lizards have slender bodies with an angular pointed snout. They are usually brown, though their colour may vary. They are found across mainland Britain but are fragmented and patchily distributed.
Habitat
Common Lizards are often found in open habitats, such as open woodland, hedge banks and natural grassland. They prefer sunny areas with free draining soils, which are habitats also preferred by their invertebrate prey. Common Lizards are also found on artificial habitats such as railways embankments and road verges.
Reproduction
Common Lizards mate shortly after hibernation, and 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. 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.
