"Phil L" wrote in message
...

It's just a pity we can't get them to migrate into the towns and cities,
maybe the ever expanding rat population would be kept under control?


And I thought you were a rat-lover Phil... ;o)

Tracey

On Tue, 27 Jul 2004 12:04:12 +0100, Kay
wrote:

In article , BAC
writes


Slow worms in abundance when I lived in Sevenoaks. Only place I've seen
lizards is Inner Hebrides. Seen many adders- mainly the tail end
departing as fast as poss - but not yet seen a grass snake.

I must be very fortunate, as I've seen quite a few of the reptilians you
mention, in the wild, in the UK. Lots of lizards on sand dunes on the
Norfolk coast, when I was a child, one or two slow worms, plenty of adders,
and several grass snakes - including swimming specimens (no, I am not
confusing them with eels). I've yet to see a 'wild' scorpion here in the
flesh, and don't particularly want to, either :-)

I was brought up in the wet west. Not so many basking places for
reptiles.

According to Garden Wildlife (Collins Nature Guides)
Michael Chinery, the common wall lizard does not exist in Great
Britain, but is to be found in the Channel Islands.

This site says otherwise
http://www.herpetofauna.co.uk/identification.htm

Cross examination of my wife on the subject of her claim to have seen
a lizard in our Zuid Holland garden revealed that what she saw was
probably a newt.
--
Martin

wrote in message
...
On Tue, 27 Jul 2004 12:04:12 +0100, Kay
wrote:

In article , BAC
writes


Slow worms in abundance when I lived in Sevenoaks. Only place I've
seen
lizards is Inner Hebrides. Seen many adders- mainly the tail end
departing as fast as poss - but not yet seen a grass snake.

I must be very fortunate, as I've seen quite a few of the reptilians you
mention, in the wild, in the UK. Lots of lizards on sand dunes on the
Norfolk coast, when I was a child, one or two slow worms, plenty of
adders,
and several grass snakes - including swimming specimens (no, I am not
confusing them with eels). I've yet to see a 'wild' scorpion here in the
flesh, and don't particularly want to, either :-)

I was brought up in the wet west. Not so many basking places for
reptiles.

According to Garden Wildlife (Collins Nature Guides)
Michael Chinery, the common wall lizard does not exist in Great
Britain, but is to be found in the Channel Islands.

This site says otherwise
http://www.herpetofauna.co.uk/identification.htm

Cross examination of my wife on the subject of her claim to have seen
a lizard in our Zuid Holland garden revealed that what she saw was
probably a newt.

What makes you suspect she saw a newt rather than a lizard?

On Tue, 27 Jul 2004 16:28:33 +0100, "BAC"
wrote:

Cross examination of my wife on the subject of her claim to have seen
a lizard in our Zuid Holland garden revealed that what she saw was
probably a newt.

What makes you suspect she saw a newt rather than a lizard?

She identified it as a newt from the photos in Garden Wildlife
(Collins Nature Guides) Michael Chinery.

The local inquisition is rarely wrong :-)

--
Martin

In article ,
"BAC" writes:
| wrote in message
| ...
|
| Cross examination of my wife on the subject of her claim to have seen
| a lizard in our Zuid Holland garden revealed that what she saw was
| probably a newt.
|
| What makes you suspect she saw a newt rather than a lizard?

It was wearing a tee-shirt saying "Vote for Ken"?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 27 Jul 2004 15:38:34 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:


In article ,
"BAC" writes:
| wrote in message
| ...
|
| Cross examination of my wife on the subject of her claim to have seen
| a lizard in our Zuid Holland garden revealed that what she saw was
| probably a newt.
|
| What makes you suspect she saw a newt rather than a lizard?

It was wearing a tee-shirt saying "Vote for Ken"?

LOL
--
Martin

Tracey wrote:
:: "Phil L" wrote in message
:: ...
::
::: It's just a pity we can't get them to migrate into the towns and
::: cities, maybe the ever expanding rat population would be kept
::: under control?
::
::
:: And I thought you were a rat-lover Phil... ;o)
::
:: Tracey

Not the disease ridden ones who live on the other side of my garden fence
though...and FWIW, I don't keep rats and never have.
:-p

Nick Maclaren wrote:
:: In article ,
:: "Phil L" writes:
:::::::
::::::: Parts of Wales have a good pupulation of snakes, I saw one
::::::: there as a child, about 4 foot long and a sandy beige colour,
::::::: this is the only wild snake I've ever seen in the UK...they
::::::: are, like my own snakes, very shy of people and just want to
::::::: hide all the time.
::::::
:::::: The wilder parts of the Penwith peninsula in Cornwall abounds
:::::: in adders.
::::
:::: It's just a pity we can't get them to migrate into the towns and
:::: cities, maybe the ever expanding rat population would be kept
:::: under control?
::
:: There are no snakes in the UK that are capable of tackling adult
:: rats. Sorry.
::
There would be enough adolecent rats to keep an army of snakes going for
decades where I live, I'm in a densely populated area of the NW, where the
space between towns and cities is non-existent.

In article ,
Phil L wrote:
::
There would be enough adolecent rats to keep an army of snakes going for
decades where I live, I'm in a densely populated area of the NW, where the
space between towns and cities is non-existent.

The trouble is that the adult rats would kill and eat the snakes :-(

What we need is a few bigger and more venomous snakes - which would
also help to reduce the number of cats ....


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On Tue, 27 Jul 2004 09:51:00 +0200, Tim Challenger wrote:

Cats are obviously more stupid than I gave them credit for. I've updated my
memory bank.

I love cats, but truth is, they're as dim as doorknobs. Totally
thalamic, living entirely for the moment. But very pleasant
critters, infinitely more interesting than a collection of
porcelain doorknobs.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
[change "atlantic" to "pacific" and
"invalid" to "net" to reply by email]

On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 00:49:54 GMT, Rodger Whitlock wrote:

On Tue, 27 Jul 2004 09:51:00 +0200, Tim Challenger wrote:

Cats are obviously more stupid than I gave them credit for. I've updated my
memory bank.

I love cats, but truth is, they're as dim as doorknobs. Totally
thalamic, living entirely for the moment. But very pleasant
critters, infinitely more interesting than a collection of
porcelain doorknobs.

LOL.
--
Tim C.

"Rodger Whitlock" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 27 Jul 2004 09:51:00 +0200, Tim Challenger wrote:

Cats are obviously more stupid than I gave them credit for. I've updated
my
memory bank.

I love cats, but truth is, they're as dim as doorknobs. Totally
thalamic, living entirely for the moment. But very pleasant
critters, infinitely more interesting than a collection of
porcelain doorknobs.


Most dogs would probably agree with that latter sentiment :-)

The message
from lid (Rodger Whitlock) contains these words:

On Tue, 27 Jul 2004 09:51:00 +0200, Tim Challenger wrote:

Cats are obviously more stupid than I gave them credit for. I've
updated my
memory bank.

I love cats, but truth is, they're as dim as doorknobs. Totally
thalamic, living entirely for the moment.

I can't find a definition of thalamic which I can understand, and the
cat's out so I can't ask. However, if you might not say cats live
entirely for the moment if you saw the extent of devilish plotting and
longterm forward thinking devised by ours, in order to infiltrate the
inner chamber/bedroom undetected and spend the night.

Janet.