Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[wolves121121]

hi any one been out looking for these guys yet. was thinking of making a trip down to see them. cheers marc

[Peter Parrot]

There were certainly a few there three years ago. I have seen western green lizards (L. bilineata) at the location that you refer to on two occasions. Both times were back in 2005 when I visited the area with the express purpose of finding them. I had visited previously on another three occassions however before I managed to locate them. I did discover Wall lizards (P. muralis) on my prior visits. These were far more apparent than the green lizards. The area in which both species could be found is known as Boscombe and Southbourne Overcliff and is in fact a nature reserve.

The few individual L.bilineata that I managed to see with my own eyes were living amongst a mixture of Gorse and Bramble scrub on higher ground above an area that was quite well populated with P. muralis. If you manage to find the wall lizards then you are in with a chance, just possibly, of seeing a green lizard or two. They are however a good deal more difficult to spot than the wall lizards despite their bright colouration. The animals that I spotted were in very thick cover of gorse and bramble. One animal was perched quite high and I witnessed it catch a bee of all things, which was visiting the gorse flowers.

Interestingly enough, the two colonies of "alien" species were only a few hundred metres away from the Herpetological Conservation Trust`s Bournemouth office in Christchutch road. Some people have attributed the Green lizard`s presence at Boscombe to them being late surviving, hitherto-overlooked natives although I think this to be unlikely.
They may well have been introduced accidentally from the Channel Islands, or the continent where they are numerous. An even more likely explanation is that they are dumped pets, much like in the case of red eared terrapins.

Chris Gleed Owens (HCT) own words regarding the colony;