A warm sheltered corner for lizards
Guy Werner
Guy loves seeing wildlife in his garden at Point Lonsdale. Over the years he has developed wildlife-friendly habitat in his garden and is always on the lookout for more sites to consider.
In 2019 he was visited by our Garden Guides. Guy asked about their ideas for an out-of-the-way section along the back fence. They noted the sunny aspect and made some suggestions for developing lizard-attracting habitat. Following up on these ideas, Guy created two wood piles that successfully established lizard habitat.
For one of the piles, he placed two larger logs side-by-side on the ground in full sun to create a refuge and sunbaking spot for the cold-blooded reptiles. For the other pile, he used short-felled offcuts and branch trimmings around the base of a Coast Banksia to provide safe breeding and shelter.
To add to the habitat and provide a protective foliage cover, Guy planted some ground cover. Bower Spinach readily took hold and is now climbing over the wood pile. He also planted Poa, a hardy tufting plant, to provide protection from predators, such as cats and birds, through the mulched area. The Poa also hosts a wide range of insects when mature, and increases the habitat for the lizard food sources, such as slaters, worms, crickets, ants, cockroaches, grubs, slugs and small insects.
A family of skinks are now in residence in an attractive, increasingly complex and sheltered wildlife habitat area.
Guy Werner
