Far From the Madding Crowd: April 2012

Friday, 20 April 2012

Sand Lizard

Sand Lizard, a photo by Linda Yarrow on Flickr.

We went to Higher Hyde, one of Dorset Wildlife Trust nature reserve hoping to catch sight of some Sand Lizards. We found this one basking on an old tyre. Sadly this poor thing has got some ticks. This nature reserve is surrounded by tanks, guns, quarries and their huge lorries, making this reserve not the most peaceful place to visit, particularly with the clay pigeon shot gun club right next to the reserve, guns going off every minute. This place seems to be the best place to find Sand Lizards as there old tyres and heaps of tiles which these lizards like to bask on, warming themselves up.

My Blog

I have taken the title of my blog from Thomas Hardy's fourth novel 'Far From the Madding Crowd' which he wrote in 1874. He took his title from Thomas Gray's poem 'Elegy written in a Country Churchyard' completed in 1750. Thomas Hardy was born in Dorset where he lived for most of his life and where he based the stories in his novels. The word 'madding' means frenzied and there is a sense of freedom I get being out in the countryside and being close to nature away from the frenzied atmosphere of the towns and cities. I live in Dorset and like Thomas Hardy, it is where I have lived for most of my life, my blog is mostly about nature in Dorset. I am a member of the Dorset Wildlife Trust. I will include my garden and anything of interest about the natural world in Britain.