20 September β 24 October
the coastal calendar, unshifted
Dry stony scrub and terrace walls; a metre of bronze that looks like a snake and is not.
A legless lizard, not a snake β it has eyelids and ear openings, and it eats snails and beetles. It is killed on sight across the coast by people who think it is a viper, and it is in fact the best snail control a garden can have.
photos, sightings and recordings, off this site
where this species is on the list
| Phase | When | Length | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| wintering in cover | 25 October β 14 March | 141 days | Reptile dormancy β sluggish rather than truly asleep, and broken by warm spells. |
| going about the year | 15 March β 19 April | 36 days | Feeding, holding territory, doing nothing the calendar singles out. |
| courting | 20 April β 31 May | 42 days | Song, display, fighting, scent-marking β pairs forming or reaffirming. |
| on eggs | 1 June β 9 August | 70 days | Clutch laid and being incubated, or buried and left to the sun. |
| raising young | 10 August β 19 September | 41 days | Dependent young in the nest, den or burrow, being fed. |
| young dispersing | 20 September β 24 October | 35 days | Young leaving for good, looking for a territory of their own. |