Meet Tanya Eyre, Education Officer in the North York Moors!

Tanya is Education Officer on Fylingdales Moor in the North York Moors. Having worked there for 12 years, Tanya is paid through a Stewardship Scheme to share this wonderful wild landscape with groups, mainly schools, but also Guides, Women’s Institute, and more. We are a conservation moor encouraging biodiversity, with grazing common rights, supported by Natural England. Tanya previously worked at various Field Study Centres including Cranedale in the Wolds, Hallsannery in Devon, and Calshot near Southampton. You can contact Tanya at fylingdaleseducation@gmail.com and on Twitter @tanyaeyre.

Tanya’s chosen species is the Common Lizard Zootoca vivipara. The most commonly seen reptile in Yorkshire, the Common Lizard is typically around 15cm in length and brown-green in colour, typically with a darker streak running down the spine. As with other reptiles, they have dry scaly skin. Females tend to have a plain belly, whereas males can have brighter colours and dark spots. Moving quickly when disturbed, you’re likely to see this species darting across moorland, heath, meadows, and woodland edges – wherever there is sun, sites for hibernating, and an insect food source - or resting in a spot of sunshine. One strategy to avoid being caught by birds (one of their main predators) is to drop their tails, a truly odd sight! Like the Adder, the Common Lizard forgot to read the description about reptiles laying shelled eggs. From its Latin name ‘vivpara’, you can see it gives birth to live young (viviparous), which are inch-long and typically born in August. The North York Moors support the largest populations in our region. If you’d like to learn more, Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC) have loads of good information on their website. You can also use Record Pool, a collaborative project from ARC and the Amphibian and Reptile Groups of the UK, to look at Common Lizard distribution across Yorkshire. You can also find out more on the NBN Atlas.

Reptiles can be an exciting find in the UK, often more elusive and difficult to spot than some of our other wildlife. There’s also interesting social and cultural history surrounding them, with numerous ‘worm’, ‘serpentine’ and ‘dragon’ folklores and legends in the UK. This can be explained given that the land has, over the course of history, been settled at various times by peoples to whom the imagery of such creatures is deeply symbolic, and during the middle ages contact with the East only embellished these tales further with added style and detail. From St George and the Dragon to The Lambton Worm and The Dragon of Wantley (set among the Wharncliffe Crags near Sheffield), reptilian-like creatures feature in some of our most iconic folktales. You can read more about some of these tales here.

Despite being comfortable in lots of habitats, with urban sprawl and intensive farming, the range of the Common Lizard has been reduced within Yorkshire. As there hasn’t been much long-term monitoring, it is hard to say how numbers have fared over time. Whilst they appear to remain a locally common species, as urban sprawl continues we will likely see their range continue to contract, making isolated populations more fragile and of greater importance.

“One strategy to avoid being caught by birds is to drop its tail – this still discombobulates me how biologically it can happen so instantly! To see a thrashing tail on the ground is an odd sight – it can keep moving for over an hour!”

— Tanya

With growing threats, this makes it all the more important for programmes like that which Tanya leads to exist and share the wonders of the moors – such as the Common Lizard - with young people and communities: ‘I continue to love working with youngsters as their curiosity abounds. Seeing their faces when a lizard runs up their arm or just sits photogenically on their top, is the best reward. I’ve always loved everything marine but the open space of the moors is magical - something no digital device provides for our youth.’

If you’d like to try and spot Common Lizards in Yorkshire, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserves such as Strensall Common and Allerthorpe Common are good places to start. Taking a walk on Fylingdales Moor in the North York Moors is another good bet, particularly the nature trail from Jugger Howe layby (NZ945002; one mile south of Flask Inn on the A171). A noticeboard next to the farm gate shows the route, or you can pick up a leaflet from nearby pubs and libraries with the route shown. Look out for lizards on the paths in the valley and sunbathing on the boardwalk – if you glance ahead before you step on, you may see what looks like sheep poo on the side of the boards, but when it runs off on approach you know it’s not! Walking on your tip-toes through long grass can also be fruitful if you watch ahead to where you’re stepping. If you pick a lizard up, cover it whilst it becomes accustomed to you. If it’s large and fat, it could be a pregnant female – please release these immediately or only hold gently for a brief period to minimise stress at this important life stage. As for all native reptiles, the Common Lizard is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in Great Britain, meaning it is illegal to kill, harm, or sell/trade them.

Monitoring

According to local and national ARC branches, there is an urgent need to record more sightings of this species. Robert Jaques is the Reptile recorder for the Yorkshire Naturalists Union and recommends recording any sightings on iRecord. Whitby Naturalists and Scarborough Naturalists also have their own recorders, Harriet Wood (reptiles@whitbynaturalists.uk) and Brian Walker (info@scarboroughfieldnats.co.uk) respectively. If you ever find the sloughed skin of a Common Lizard (or another reptile) you can post it to be analysed for ARC’s genebank.

Further information and acknowledgements

NEYEDC would like to thank Tanya for her time and expertise in helping to create this blog. Thanks also to YNU’s Robert Jaques and Johnny Wilkinson from ARC for their added information.

The Natural History of Yorkshire in 100 Species

#32 Common Lizard by Tanya Eyre

Monitoring

Further information and acknowledgements