Wall Lizards in Dorset

 

Common Wall Lizard - Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens, Dorset

Most field guides will tell you that Britain has six native reptile species - Common (or Viviparous) Lizard, Sand Lizard, Slow Worm, Adder, Grass and Smooth Snakes. (See my blog about Sand Lizards in Dorset here.) However, Dorset is home to another reptile - the Wall Lizard - and in some coastal corners of the county it's a lot more common than any of the native 'big six'.

One of these corners is the Isle of Portland (not strictly an island, but that's another story) where Wall Lizards are easily encountered. On a recent walk down its eastern side (early May 2025) we saw nine Wall Lizards and no native reptiles. Our sightings were all in an area around Cheyne Weares, specifically on the coast path that winds through the undercliff south of Church Ope Cove and on the wall that separates the main road from Coombefield Quarry. It was mid-morning after a foggy start, ideal conditions to see reptiles basking on sheltered and sunny rocks. The two pictured below allowed me to get close enough to grab some images with my phone. Note the blue patch on the side of the belly on the second lizard, likely indicating a male. 

 

Common Wall Lizards - Portland, Dorset May 2025 (iPhone images)

Strictly, these are Common Wall Lizards Podarcis muralis, which are found across southern Europe from France and northern Spain to western Turkey. Within their native range they are able to tolerate human-influenced environments, and are as familiar on dry stone walls and farm buildings as they are in forests and on mountain scree. The first time that I came across them was in a hamlet in the Cévennes in south central France where they were active and engaging residents of our small rural gîte.

But what are they doing in Dorset? The Surrey Amphibian and Reptile Group (SARG)'s Wall Lizard Project (see reference at the end of this blog post) provides some of the answers, even though the website's maps weren't fully functional when I recently accessed it. The project has identified 14 extant Wall Lizard colonies within Dorset, all in coastal or near-coastal locations. The two that I am most familiar with are at Cheyne Weares on Portland, see above, and in Abbotsbury Sub-tropical Gardens further to the west towards Bridport (link here), which are worth a visit even if lizard-spotting isn't on your agenda. The SARG project mentions a second site on Portland at the West Weares, which includes Tout Quarry, but I myself have never seen a Wall Lizard on that side of the island. We had another look on our last visit with no success, although it was later in the day and temperatures had risen markedly.  

According to the SARG project, the Abbotsbury colony is long established, possibly dating from as early as the 1890s, while both Portland colonies are more recent, arising from captive stock released by a private breeder in the 1990s. It should be noted that this is illegal: the release of any non-resident (or non-regularly visiting) wild animal is prohibited by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Not that this seems to stop people, as shown by the UK's current wave of mysterious beaver arrivals.

Such laws are eminently sensible: much of the world has experienced the downside of non-native introductions, from Cane Toads in Australia to Japanese Knotweed in the UK. While greater species diversity could be welcomed given Britain's impoverished fauna, which has resulted both from its island nature and subsequent extinctions at the hands of its human occupants, any re-introductions should always be done with an understanding of the likely costs and benefits.  

Common Wall Lizard - Abbotsbury

So what are the costs and benefits of having Wall Lizards in Dorset? Obviously they are already here, and they look very much at home. Given that their native range extends up to the French coast across the English Channel they would probably have colonised Britain naturally if they had arrived before the land bridge was lost after the last Ice Age. Climate change means that conditions in Dorset are likely to become more favourable to their survival. 

While this suggests that we probably shouldn't be too concerned about the presence of Wall Lizards, recent research (see Williams, 2019) indicates that there is clear potential for them to compete for resources with native reptiles, specifically Viviparous Lizards. In the jargon, this is called "niche overlap". The extent to which competition could become a conservation problem for the native species is uncertain; Wall and Viviparous Lizards appear to coexist successfully over much of northern France, although generally the two species have distinctly separate ranges - Viviparous Lizards in northern Europe and Wall Lizards further south, although Wall Lizards are themselves replaced by a suite of related species over much of Spain and Portugal.

To date, while many of Dorset's Wall Lizard colonies seem to be in good health, there is little evidence of them having expanded into the wider countryside. If they stay contained then there is less likelihood of harmful conflicts with our native reptiles. The SARG project suggests that Portland has historically been poor in terms of reptile numbers, presumably because of its relative isolation from the rest of Dorset, so the presence of Wall Lizards may be less of a concern on the island.

On the other hand, although Viviparous Lizards are classed as 'least concern' in conservation terms by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) "red list", their numbers are reducing in certain areas of Britain (Foster et al, 2021) - albeit not severely enough to affect its overall conservation status. Habitat loss and reduction in habitat quality are the main factors affecting local populations, although a reduction in prey density as a result of declining insect numbers (see my blog about that here) may be an additional factor and competition with non-native introductions like Wall Lizards cannot be ruled out. One to watch for the future. 

Common Wall Lizard - Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens

In the meantime, let's just enjoy Wall Lizards for what they are, characterful and engaging reptiles that can put on a bit of a show for residents and visitors alike. Anything that encourages folk to notice and enjoy wild nature, even if its been given a bit of a helping hand, can only be a good thing.

References

Beebee, T. & Griffith, R. (2000). Amphibians and Reptiles (New Naturalist Series) London: HarperCollins.

Foster, J., Driver, D., Ward, R. & Wilkinson, J. (2021). IUCN Red List assessment of amphibians and reptiles at Great Britain and country scale. Report to Natural England. ARC report. ARC, Bournemouth.

Inns, H. (2009). Britain's Reptiles and Amphibians Wildguides

Langham, S. (2025) The Wall Lizard Project Surrey Amphibian and Reptile Group; 2025-05-03. 2025-05-03 <http://surrey-arg.org.uk/SARGWEB.php?app=PmSitePicker>. link

Speybroeck, J. et al. (2016) Field Guide to the Amphibians & Reptiles of Europe (British Wildlife Field Guides) London: Bloomsbury.

Williams, R.J. (2019). The Invasion Ecology of Common Wall Lizard (Podarcis muralis): Population Dynamics, Interactions and Adaptations (Doctoral dissertation, University of Leeds).