Lizards from South West France

When I first got a decent DSLR, I wanted to learn to become a great photographer. Wildlife is a popular subject and one animal in particular caught my attention: the lizard. Lizards are abundant in South West France, they enjoy lying very still in sunny locations and are surprisingly photogenic.

green lizard
I was fortunate enough to see this wonderful green lizard, Lacerta viridis, while hiking up the Chemin de la Mature in the Pyrenees.

If you’d like to know more about this wonderful species, click here.

Adder
Coming back down from the Col above Etsaut, what should slither across my path but a beautiful adder, Vipera berus. True, not a lizard, but fascinating all the same.
moulting lizard
This one is in the process of moulting. Its tail is already showing the new skin with the old skin showing some amazing blue scales.
close up of lizard
Same lizard, just a bit closer. Click on the image to see the colours.
lizard looking like dinosaur
This large lizard lives in the Pyrenees at a height of about 800metres. I saw some lizards as high as 1700m, well above the snowline. Doesn’t its head look dinosauric?
mating lizards
Are they mating or just playing piggy-back? I didn’t like to ask.
Enjoying the sunshine. Being poikilothermic, lizards need the warmth of the sun to keep alive.
Enjoying the sunshine. Being poikilothermic, lizards need the warmth of the sun to keep alive.
posing lizard
Luckily lizards stay perfectly still while you shoot them.
small lizard
This one was only about 6cm long.
big lizard
About 15cm of lizard. An impressive creature.

Flora + Fauna in the Pyrenees

Animals in the Czech Republic

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