Then around June sand lizard females lay their eggs, which are buried in sand exposed to the sun which helps to keep them warm until they hatch some six to eight weeks later between late July and early October. The male has striking bright green flanks during the breeding season in late April and May.

Both sexes have brown varied patterns down the back with two strong dorsal stripes. The sand lizard has an average life span of 10 years and is up to 20cm in length. The sand lizard population is now doing very well. The Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust (ARC) rescued 41 sand lizards from a suburban housing development near Bournemouth and began a reintroduction programme at Wisley and Ockham Common in 1991. In this mosaic habitat of new and mature heather and gorse, the sand lizard population is expanding steadily with each new generation. Here at Wisley and Ockham Common fast growing pine and silver birch tree scrub was taking over when Surrey Wildlife Trust started managing the site.Īfter more than a decade of scrub clearance and GIS mapping of vegetation on the 300 hectare reserve, Surrey Wildlife Trust has created a dynamic heathland landscape.

However, over the last 200 years Surrey has lost 85 per cent of its heathlands to farming and woodland regrowth, which has decimated the sand lizard population. Awarded favourable condition by Natural England, the reserve is benefitting the UK’s rarest reptile - the sand lizard – which depends on this sandy heathland habitat for its survival.Ī fifth of lowland heathland in Europe is found in the UK. A once declining heathland landscape at Wisley and Ockham Common, has been transformed by Surrey Wildlife Trust into a thriving nature reserve of the highest conservation status.

Ockham common