After all my recent emphasis on birds you might be surprised to see this, but the other day I was at Foulshaw Moss nature reserve in the very south of Cumbria (the bit that used to be in Lancashire). I was hoping to see the Ospreys, thinking that they might have returned. Actually I missed them by just a few hours. The male, along with an unknown female, returned that evening.
There were no other birds visible on the moss, so I was walking back towards the car park when I caught up with a man who had his telescope pointed down at the boardwalk. This is what he was watching. It wasn’t a bird. It is, of course, a Common Lizard.
“Lizard-level” Photography
Several times recently I’ve tried to get down to bird’s eye height so a to look the bird straight in the face rather than looking down on it. So, I decided to try the same with this lizard, but it involved lying down flat on the boardwalk to get the camera right down on the ground. I must have looked crazy, and I suppose anyone watching must have wondered whether the old chap lying there flat on his face was drunk, or even if not, would he be able to get up again. Well I proved my reasonable level of fitness by elevating myself to normal walking posture with no difficulty. What’s more, I got my photograph.
I feel quite pleased with this, and maybe when I go to reserves in future I’ll make a point of looking downwards to see what’s crawling around as well as to the usual places for birds. So this summer it’ll be birds, butterflies, other insects and … amphibians.
