BBC Springwatch visit Gronant Dunes
The team from BBC Springwatch joined the Council’s Ecology Officer, Joel Walley, and colleagues from Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, Flintshire County Council and a range of other volunteers at Gronant Dunes, to shine a spotlight on Wales’ rarest reptile, the Sand Lizard.
The Sand Lizard is Wales’ only egg laying lizard, and is a European protected species due to its rarity. Male sand lizards are very striking, having bright green flanks. Females and juveniles are brown, and all forms have distinctive dark spots with pale centres called ‘oceli’. Female Sand Lizards lay eggs in shallow tunnels in sand exposed to the sun, in late May and early June. Young lizards hatch between August and early October and are immediately independent.
Sand Lizards became extinct in Wales in the 1960s, but a partnership project with Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC), Flintshire County Council, Chester Zoo, Private breeders and a team of volunteers saw the rare reptiles reintroduced back to the Denbighshire coast in 2004.
Springwatch Presenters Iolo Williams and Martin Hughes-Games broadcast live from the dune system on Thursday 1st June 2017. You can watch the programme below.
If you would like further information or to get involved with the conservation of Denbighshire’s Sand Lizards, then please visit Denbighshire Countryside's website or e-mail biodiversity@denbighshire.gov.uk.
