It’s a warm day in the garden and a male blackbird stands sunbathing, wings held out like a cormorant, its sleek back angled to the sun. I too am relishing the warmth as I sit with a cup of tea in front of the log store.
With a sudden flash of movement, a lizard scuttles from a bee-busy border of lungworts to the retaining wall of a raised bed. I watch and wait. First its head peeps out, tasting the air, then the lizard emerges followed by another. Common lizards, Zootoca vivipara, and this is only the second time I’ve seen them here.
I hunker down and shuffle until I’m within a couple of feet. Close to, I can appreciate their body-long patterns of pale and brown spots, glowing coppery scales, banded toes and dark nostrils. They lie entwined on a dry mossy stone, bodies flattened to absorb the sun.
Becoming restless, the pair constantly change position, wrapping tails over bodies, nudging head to head or twisting in opposite directions. Their flanks pulse, toes splay out over the warmed stone. Black tongues flick out and sometimes they close their eyelids. Then, with a sudden lunge, one leaps on the other and they tumble off the wall on to the paving before quickly running back up and curling together again.
April is the month for common lizards to mate and what I’ve seen is probably courtship. The word viviparous referred to in their specific name means “to bear live young” and baby lizards are fully developed within the female’s body before birth. I can tell which is the male by his orange belly.
I’m now so close I can put my finger by his head, and he uses his tongue to smell my skin. The lizards are not bothered by my presence, but when a pheasant, one of their main predators, flies overhead with a clatter of wings they are both immediately on alert. Heads and necks erect, they stay rigid for two minutes before relaxing again.
The log store is another favourite basking spot. When my young grandson comes to visit, we edge within touching distance of the male that lies camouflaged to the wood. It’s a special moment to share.
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