Lizards...In Ireland

A_Sober_Paddy

Wait a minute...Lizards(The common Lizard) is apparently native here in Ireland...Lizards, I've never seen one here, not once in my life...there also a protected species...

Am I the only one who didn't know this

SV

Never seen a lizard iin Ireland..met a few snakes though!

Auldloon

Yes.

The Backwards Man

See plenty of them here in Donegal, cute wee buckos.

eggox

The Backwards Man wrote: »

See plenty of them here in Donegal, cute wee buckos.

Did you lick it to get the cure for burns?

seamus

What type of lizards? I know when I was a kid we used to find salamanders in a local pond, but afaik they're not part of the lizard family.

homerhop

can be found on bogs and the burren and yes they are protected. Ones I have seen are bout an inch and a half, brown upper body and orange under belly.

MadsL

They come at night...mostly.

Oh wait, that's Newt.

Pherekydes

I saw a live lizard on the beach at Ballinskelligs a few years' ago. They're also viviparous!

Kidchameleon

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

Wait a minute...Lizards(The common Lizard) is apparently native here in Ireland...Lizards, I've never seen one here, not once in my life...there also a protected species...

Am I the only one who didn't know this

You can see these guys:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viviparous_lizard

Near the Liffey in Memorial Gardens Islandbridge.

_Kaiser_

MadsL wrote: »

They come at night...mostly.

Oh wait, that's Newt.

Actually.. it was the Aliens that came at night... mostly

Hence why Newt would be hidden away in her little corner of the base

/pedantic

The Backwards Man

Here's one of the little fellas in my turf shed

Karl Stein

I saw a female lizard scurrying into the undergrowth down at Ye Olde Head of Kinsale a coupla years ago.

A_Sober_Paddy

Its genuinely amazes me that I didn't know this...I came across it will checking the protection status of Badgers here, after watching something about England and badger culls...the circle of life

Fr_Dougal

Can grow up to 3ft long apparently...

Wibbs

Kidchameleon wrote: »

You can see these guys:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viviparous_lizard

Near the Liffey in Memorial Gardens Islandbridge.

Cool. I never saw one near Dublin, but as a kid holidaying in Kerry I saw them a lot. Scurrying out from under my bed in the B&B in the morning. You'd see them on rocks basking too. I actually found a sloughed off skin of one and kept it squished and page trapped in a thick encyclopedia I had as a kid. I just dug it now and it's still there.

Smidge

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

Its genuinely amazes me that I didn't know this...I came across it will checking the protection status of Badgers here, after watching something about England and badger culls...the circle of life

Mock the Week re-run??

Bullchomper

I thought Ireland was lizard free until I walked into my Mum's Bedroom one day and......


MUM?






Someone had to make that joke sooner or later. Forgive me.

MadsL

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Actually.. it was the Aliens that came at night... mostly

Hence why Newt would be hidden away in her little corner of the base

/pedantic

Oh wait, I was quoting Newt. Hence that's (what) Newt (said).

/pedantic rebuttal

MadsL

Bullchomper wrote: »

I thought Ireland was lizard free until I walked into my Mum's Bedroom one day and......


MUM?






Someone had to make that joke sooner or later. Forgive me.

Still would...

Bullchomper

MadsL wrote: »

Still would...

You would do what to my mother?! :eek:

ian87

Pherekydes wrote: »

I saw a live lizard on the beach at Ballinskelligs a few years' ago. They're also viviparous!

I was laid out on my towel in Ballinskelligs beach last July and one ran up the leg of my shorts. I got some fright!

meoklmrk91

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Here's one of the little fellas in my turf shed

They are called smooth newts, I rescued one last year that was in the middle of the road, rang an exotics rescue, they identified it and told me to release it into a marshy area with a water source nearby, they are a protected species, you are supposed to report any sightings of them.

You can report it here: http://iwt.ie/what-we-do/newt-survey/report-a-sighting/

Here's a pic of the little I rescued last year.

Ruu

Did not know David Icke was making an appearance.

hmmm

I've seen them when I'm out hiking, but very very rarely. Basking on rocks usually in very sunny weather. I didn't know we had any either until I saw my first one. They're small and brown, so they are hard to spot.

Fox_In_Socks

I've seen them twice ever. Both times near my family home in rural Munster. Once when I was about 3 or 4, the was one crawling up the wall near the front door. My brother scooped the lizard into a small sand castle building bucket and released the lizard into the undergrowth nearby.

The second time was when I was about 15 and saw a tiny fellow basking in the sun. His body from what I saw of him was a bit longer than my finger.

Drained_Empty

they can't grow 3 feet long, 3 inches more like.

Umbreal

As a kid I saw the tail of one slink into a pile of firewood. I nearly shat myself because I thought it was a snake and I knew there wasn't any snakes in Ireland. No one in my family could tell me what it was and this was before the era of widespread internet. I forgot all about it till recently when I was reading Wikipedia and saw we did have lizards and that it must have been a lizard. But now that I really think back about it and completely read this thread, it was probably actually a newt.

Also saw a toad as well once which was pretty weird given that we only have one species and they're not exactly common.

Drained_Empty

thing is about frogs and toads. you look in a book and they say we have 2 or 3 species but within those species there is every time of colour, size (almost) and texture. Massive amount of individual variation.

as a kid i often went frog hunting and i swear to god i caught 20/30 and no type looked the same. released them all after.

BeerWolf

Kidchameleon wrote: »

You can see these guys:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viviparous_lizard

Near the Liffey in Memorial Gardens Islandbridge.

"Common" - I've never seen them!

Whatsernamex33

Saw one a few weeks ago near the Royal Canal. Didn't know we had them here either.

sbsquarepants

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

Wait a minute...Lizards(The common Lizard) is apparently native here in Ireland...Lizards, I've never seen one here, not once in my life...there also a protected species...

Am I the only one who didn't know this

You find them mostly on the west coast as far as I know, nice little critters so they are, although I've also seen one or two of them in Wexford.

Banjo String

I was raised literally on.the shores of Lough Neagh, and I've seen quite a few there.

During the summer months, we'd be absolutely infested by 'Lough flys' basically midges, which I think they seemed to like.

In saying that, my dad who still fishes for eels for a living, reports that they've become almost extinct, ie reckons he hasn't seen one in five years or so.

tin79

I am betting 90% of these "lizard" sightings are newts. The one at the Royal Canal almost certainly was.

Populations of actual lizards in Ireland are small and localized.

akura

I found this little guy about two years ago.

gobnaitolunacy

Was shown one once, caught in a jar as a kid.

Was told it was a baby croc, so I wouldn't go swimming in the river.

returnNull

we use to catch them as youngsters when we holidayed in curracloe co. wexford.There tails come off if you grab them by it presume a defence mechanism(I hope!!)

Wibbs

akura wrote: »

I found this little guy about two years ago.

Great pic, You can even see where he/she lost the tip of it's tail and grew a new one. Yep tail loss is a defence mechanism in many lizards.

Riskymove

BeerWolf wrote: »

"Common" - I've never seen them!

you misunderstand - its just that they enjoy Dutch Gold and reality TV

returnNull

Riskymove wrote: »

you misunderstand - its just that they enjoy Dutch Gold and reality TV

yeah and you can tell when they're adults by the addidas tracksuit bottoms they wear:pac:

Lando Griffin

ian87 wrote: »

I was laid out on my towel in Ballinskelligs beach last July and one ran up the leg of my shorts. I got some fright!

If your female that's not a bad image, if your male, please don't post things like that.

aidoh

Plenty of them on Howth Head and a few on the Bull Island apparently.
They're not the same as smooth newts, whoever suggested that.
My granny apparently found one when she was doing the gardening years ago. She picked it up and it pissed in her hand and detached it's own tail haha.
They're supposedly common enough but I keep an eye out for them every time I go hiking and never see them.
I've seen more otters than lizards and apparently the auld otters are much harder to come by.

salacious crumb

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Actually.. it was the Aliens that came at night... mostly

Hence why Newt would be hidden away in her little corner of the base

/pedantic

Actually, they mostly came at night....mostly.

Just sayin' :pac:

Alun

They're up in the Wicklow Mountains too, I've seen a couple when hiking up there. Usually in quite wet, soggy conditions too, which is a bit surprising, I'd always thought they preferred drier conditions.

tin79

returnNull wrote: »

There tails come off if you grab them by it presume a defence mechanism(I hope!!)

Wrong, its contagious leprosy.

Galwayguy35

Bullchomper wrote: »

I thought Ireland was lizard free until I walked into my Mum's Bedroom one day and......


MUM?






Someone had to make that joke sooner or later. Forgive me.

Thats from the original V series isn't it?

Galwayguy35

Used to often see them in the bog when we used to be at the turf, never anywhere else though.

ScumLord

Kidchameleon wrote: »

You can see these guys:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viviparous_lizard

Near the Liffey in Memorial Gardens Islandbridge.

that's actually a pretty cool lizard, sounds like a hardy enough little thing.

I've never seen one in Ireland. Don't even see frogs anymore and there used to be a time when you'd always see loads of them. I guess all those classes in school when we were told to go out and bring back the frogspawn to watch one or two make it into a frog wasn't such a good idea.

Noopti

Have seen them a few times when on holidays as a kid, usually near beaches/dunes.

Hazys

Took a picture of this little fella on my doorstep as somebody was trying to sell me insurance last summer:

Lizard

Rasheed

eggox wrote: »

Did you lick it to get the cure for burns?

God I haven't heard about that in years!