Rare sand lizards reintroduced to Eelmoor Marsh, UK - via Herp Digest

September, 23 2019

Image caption

Sand lizards are protected under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981

Eighty juvenile sand lizards - one of the UK's rarest reptiles - have been released into the wild in Hampshire.

Conservationists from Marwell Wildlife released the creatures at Eelmoor Marsh, near Farnborough.

The animals were tagged with tiny radio transmitters as part of the group's three-year research project.

The programme has so far brought the number of lizards reintroduced at the site to 240, with the aim of creating a self-sustaining population.

Once common in heathlands across southern England, habitat loss means sand lizards are now only found in a handful of sites.

PhD student Rachel Gardner, who led the scheme, said: "It's been a privilege to work on this project and observe the sand lizards in such detail.

"We hope the research will help inform and make recommendations for the reintroduction protocol in the future, and therefore help optimise its conservation success."

Sand lizard facts:

•                 They live on protected heathland sites in Surrey, Dorset, Hampshire and in the protected Merseyside dunes
•                 They grow up to 20cm (7.8in) long and weigh about 15g (0.5oz)
•                 Both sexes have brown patterns down their backs with two stripes
•                 Their diet is mainly insects, spiders and grasshoppers

Source: Amphibian and Reptile Conservation

Thousands of lizards delay controversial Stuttgart 21 rail project

Deutsche Bahn budgets €15m to relocate threatened sand and wall lizards as costs continue to grow in major station upgrade


Kate Connolly in Berlin

Wednesday 10 May 2017 12.37 BST Last modified on Wednesday 10 May 2017 22.00 BST

A multibillion-euro railway development project in southern Germany, which has already been waylaid by spiralling costs and rows over environmental concerns and viability, is facing its latest challenge – two threatened species of lizard.

Thousands of sand and wall lizards have been found along the route of the project, known as Stuttgart 21. A major upgrade of Stuttgart’s central station, it is part of 35 miles (56km) of new lines for the trans-European rail network.

Deutsche Bahn, one of the main players behind the project, has estimated the cost of resettling the reptiles at around €15m. The rail company says it has budgeted between €2,000 and €4,000 per creature.

The lizards in question are considered threatened species in Europe. They include a small group of sand lizards (a sexually dimorphic reptile with eye-shaped markings that lounges on rocks and sleeps in holes) as well as several thousand wall lizards (a small brown-grey reptile that is typically found on walls and stones).

Both types were found on a construction site for an Intercity Express line between Stuttgart and Ulm. Their discovery, and the resulting battle between conservationists and constructors over how to deal with them, has already delayed the project by 18 months, according to a project spokesman.

To resettle the lizards, experts are being brought in to catch them in nets. The reptiles are then to be transported six miles to a new home in Untertürkheim.

The costs involved cover the rescue teams, transporting the lizards, planning their new habitats and monitoring their wellbeing.


Continued

Berlin lizards impede Lenin's resurrection

Lenin has lain in a sandpit at the southeastern edge of Berlin since 1991 when the city, desperate to rid itself of the painful reminders of its division, cut the 19-meter (62-foot) statue into more than a hundred pieces and buried them.

Now, after administrative battles with reluctant authorities and grumbling from Berliners who thought they had got rid of the old communist forever, a museum plans to resurrect the 3.5-ton, 1.70-meter head this summer for a planned museum of disgraced monuments from the city's tumultuous history.

There's just one little problem left to solve before it can finally glimpse the light of day: lizards. Sand lizards, to be precise, strictly protected by European wildlife conservation rules.

Approaching the site with the crane, bulldozers and truck that will be needed to shift Lenin would disturb the striped creatures just as they're getting ready for the mating season, during which they turn green. So they must be encouraged to move away before the exhumation can commence. That's the law.

Continued ...

Rare lizards released in Surrey

Conservationists have given the country's rarest lizard a helping hand - releasing 40 hand-reared sand lizards into the wilds of RSPB's Farnham Heath nature reserve.


This RSPB footage shows the start of a long-term conservation project to restore the species to this part of its historic range.


Due to vast habitat losses across the UK, sand lizards now only occur naturally in Surrey, Dorset and Merseyside where it is confined to coastal sand dunes.


The lizards are believed to have been lost from the Farnham Heath site when the land was planted with conifers after the Second World War.

http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/update/2012-09-20/rare-lizards-released-in-hampshire/