\n The sand lizard, which has been described by the Wildlife Trust as “extremely rare” has been spotted in the South Downs National Park.\n<\/p>\n
\n Described as a “gorgeous creature” by the South Downs National Park Trust, these elusive lizards can sometimes be seen basking on bare patches of sand where the conditions are just right.\n<\/p>\n
\n Sand lizard (Image: The South Downs National Park Trust)\n<\/p>\n
\n The South Downs National Park Trust said: “Keep an eye out for these gorgeous creatures on the heath!\n<\/p>\n
\n “The sand lizard – Just one of the 12 reptiles and amphibians that can be found on heathland in the South Downs National Park.”\n<\/p>\n
\n During the mating season, male sand lizards turn a vivid shade of green while females lay eggs in the sand in June and July, with young lizards hatching one to two months later.\n<\/p>\n
\n The species is still considered endangered and remains protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.\n<\/p>\n
\n Historically, sand lizards were almost wiped out in Britain due to habitat loss, but reintroduction and conservation programmes have helped new populations become established.\n<\/p>\n
\n Sand lizards reach up to 20cm in length and can live for up to 20 years in the wild.\n<\/p>\n
\n Supporting the work of the South Downs National Park, organisations like the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust continue to protect and monitor the heathland habitats vital to the species\u2019 survival.\n<\/p>\n
\n The lizard pictured was carefully brought to a Secrets of the Heath event for educational purposes by the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust.\n<\/p>\n
\n Reaction on social media has been enthusiastic.\n<\/p>\n
\n Belinda Murcott commented: “Just beautiful lizards.\n<\/p>\n
\n “They have amazing colours.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The sand lizard, which has been described by the Wildlife Trust as “extremely rare” has been spotted in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":636307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-636306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}