Swallowtail (Papilio machaon) | 05-2022 | Ticino | Switzerland
If anyone can identify the grasshopper, that would be helpful, thank you!
More TICINO/TESSIN Wildlife Photos (all taken in my garden in Monteggio/Ti, Switzerland): it.lacerta-bilineata.com/ramarro-occidentale-lacerta-bili... (the website exists in ESPAÑOL, FRANÇAIS, ITALIANO, ENGLISH, DEUTSCH)
My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (warning, it's a bit shocking): www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T2-Xszz7FI
THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO:
The wild garden around my vacation home in Ticino, where all the photos you can see in my Flickr gallery are from (well, some have been taken a couple of meters outside, but that still counts in my book 😉), had been a cause of contention between me and my mom for some time.
At the root of the conflict was the upper part of the garden, which originally had been conceived by my dear mother as a vegetable patch, but, left to its own devices by me after I "inherited" it, had developed into a marvelous oasis of pure botanic chaos teeming with insect life.
Mom was not amused. Although she - like all in our family - is very much in favor of letting nature roam freely around the house, and she loves all creatures big and small, she (unlike me) does draw a line somewhere. That line was the vegetable patch.
And she let her disapproval be known, and very clearly; she kept pestering me about my unwillingness to pluck the weeds (my response: "What weeds - there are no weeds: I'm creating a functioning ecosystem here, mom!") for several years, until my stubborn refusal made her reach her breaking point. She'd finally had enough.
My mom is a cunning old lady of nearly 80 years (79 to be precise), the matriarch and evil genius of our family (make no mistake: that house and garden are still HERS - and forever will be, regardless what it says on some sheet of paper), and so like a James Bond villain plotting revenge, she hatched a diabolic plan.
One day, when I was gone for a couple of weeks, she let me know via e-mail she had decided to turn this ugly weed jungle of mine into a flowery meadow. There was nothing I could do as she had already ordered a local gardening company to level that part of the garden, and once that was accomplished, as she described with obvious relish, the gardener would plant the most beautiful wild flowers and turn this ugly mess of mine into a colorful paradise.
I was not amused by this at all, as you might imagine, but there was nothing I could do to save my gorgeous oasis of chaos, so I grumpily accepted "my" garden's fate. After that, my mom avoided me whenever she could, and when she couldn't, she wouldn't mention the garden at all. This didn't strike me as odd, since I assumed she might feel at least a little bit guilty about her sneaky move (at this point, I hadn't seen the "improved" version of the garden yet).
Cut to a few weeks later, when I went back to Ticino and finally DID see the "flowery meadow" and "colorful paradise" my dear mother had ordered. My jaw dropped. But in shock - not in awe of flowery beauty of any kind: as there were NO flowers of any kind. What there was, was sod. Plain, ugly sod, completely devoid of any insect (or other animal) life, already turning into a brownish yellow due to a lack of rain in the past weeks.
You see, my mom's Italian is not very good (in fact, it's so far from good that it could be argued she doesn't speak it at all) and as it turned out, there had been a "slight" misunderstanding. Instead of planting gorgeous wild flowers, the local gardener (whose Italian is impeccable by the way), put turf rolls down after he'd leveled my oasis; turf rolls of the kind that is usually used for sterile football fields.
OK (you, dear reader, might say at this point); sad story, bro - but what does it have to do with the swallowtail in the photo? The answer is: everything. The past autumn and all through spring this year I've been planting wild flowers in that garden like a mad botanist; I've planted field scabiouses and red clover, ox-eye daisies, echium, salvia and thyme and lavender as well as plants for the caterpillars of the in Switzerland rare swallowtail butterfly such as fennel and wild carrots.
This was my desperate attempt to undo the damage and terrible devastation my mother's wrath had brought upon the earth (well, my garden's earth anyway) and turn this sod-desert into an oasis of pure botanic chaos and a colorful paradise teeming with insect life once more.
And it worked! Ever since those plants started flowering my garden has been an attraction for all kinds of butterflies and generally insects, even rare ones - and, obviously, my dearest guest and visitor that you can see in the photo above: the swallowtail.
These gorgeous butterflies are now steady guests, and they even laid their eggs on the fennel (which is now a nursery for cute swallowtail caterpillars). So in the end, my mom's will prevailed (as is always the case with the wills of all moms all over the world - don't kid yourselves, kids 😉). My weeds are gone, there now is indeed a flowery meadow - and there's even vegetables (although the fennel is strictly for the swallowtails 😊).
I have a creeping suspicion maybe my mom's Italian is better than she lets on...
Tags: sony dsc-rx10m4 swallowtail old world swallowtail papilio machaon machaon macaone macaon schwalbenschwanz gogoschka Lacerta Bilineata Animals Butterflies Insects sony rx10m4 insect animal tessin ticino monteggio schweiz switzerland suisse svizzera butterfly schmettering papillon farfalla lepidottero rx10m4
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My best photos are here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...
Common Wall Lizard | Podarcis Muralis | Monteggio, Ticino | Switzerland, May 2021
My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (warning, it's a bit shocking): www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T2-Xszz7FI
You find a selection of my 80 BEST PHOTOS (mostly not yet on Flickr) here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/western-green-lizard-lacerta-bi... (the website exists in ESPAÑOL, FRANÇAIS, ITALIANO, ENGLISH, DEUTSCH)
ABOUT THIS PHOTO
Viewed up close common wall lizards (Podarcis muralis) are even more impressive, for one because their dinosaur-like appearance becomes even more striking, but even more fascinating to me is how expressive their faces are once you see them in detail.
The way they look at you reminds me of birds or even dogs. In any case, it's hard not to read a certain intelligence into to those lizard eyes, as you can judge for yourself from the photo above.
They are very territorial animals, and after a week of photo safari through the garden at my vacation home I usually know how these little lizard kings have divided up the "turf", and which part of "my" garden (because let's be honest here: I'm just a tolerated guest at best) belongs to whom.
The little guy in the photo looking at me with such a wary eye currently lords over a big rock right opposite the front door of my house. This means that every time I come out of the house, I interfere with whatever lizard activities he's up to, which at first made him dive to safety every time that door opened.
But lizards adapt pretty quickly; it took him a couple of days to figure out the weird creature coming out of that house with his strange apparatus wasn't a threat, and once that was established, he mostly stayed put - unless I opened the door too quickly - and opted for a veeeery critical look instead (which made for some funny photos ;-)
ABOUT THE SPECIES
From Wikipedia (slightly abbreviated by me): The podarcis muralis (common wall lizard) is a species of lizard with a large distribution in Europe and well-established introduced populations in North America where it is also called the European wall lizard. It can grow to about 20 cm (7.9 in) in total length.
Description:
The common wall lizard is a small, thin lizard whose small scales are highly variable in color and pattern. Its coloration is generally brownish or greyish, and may occasionally be tinged with green. In some individuals, the row of spots along their backs may form a line, while others may have a reticulated pattern with dark spots on the side and scattered white spots that can be blue in the shoulder region.
The tail is brown, grey or rust in color, and may also have light bars on the sides. The belly region has six rows of larger rectangular scales that are generally reddish, pink, or orangish. Common wall lizards may also have dark markings on the throat.
This lizard has six distinct morphological forms which are identified by the coloration of its throat and underbelly. Three of these are pure morphs consisting only of solid colours on their scales: white, red (orange) or yellow, and three other morphs are distinguished by a combination of colors: white-yellow, white-red and yellow-red.
Ecology:
These lizards prefer rocky environments, including urban settings, where they can scurry between rock, rubble, debris and buildings. In the southern part of their range they tend to occur in humid or semi-humid habitats, compared to drier habitats in the north.
Distribution:
The natural range of the species spans much of the mainland Europe except from the north and very south and extends to Turkey. It occurs as introduced populations in southern Britain where one such population in the seaside town of Ventnor on the Isle of Wight has become somewhat famous, and also in North America. There has been some scientific debate as to whether the populations in Southern England represent the northern edge of their native range.
Podarcis muralis has been introduced in the United States and is spreading throughout the Cincinnati metropolitan area. It is commonly observed living in limestone outcrops, rock walls, and rubble along the Ohio River basin (it is now considered a naturalized species by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and is protected under state law).
The lizard is also present in Los Angeles and San Diego counties in California and may exist elsewhere in California. The species was also introduced to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Tags: switzerland Ticino Malcantone swiss suisse svizzera herp Podarcis Muralis Mauereidechse Lucertola lagartija Schweiz Tessin Podarcis Muralis Lézard Des Murailles Lagartija Roquera Lucertola Muraiola Common Wall Lizard reptiles Sony DSC-RX10 Mark IV gogoschka Animals sony rx10m4 animal monteggio rx10m4 sony macro makro
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My best photos are here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...
Western Green Lizard (Lacerta Bilineata) | Adult Male | 05-2021 | Ticino | Switzerland
More TICINO/TESSIN Wildlife Photos (all taken in my garden in Monteggio/Ti, Switzerland): it.lacerta-bilineata.com/ramarro-occidentale-lacerta-bili... (the website exists in ESPAÑOL, FRANÇAIS, ITALIANO, ENGLISH, DEUTSCH)
My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (warning, it's a bit shocking): www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T2-Xszz7FI
ABOUT THE PHOTO:
In case you wonder why I chose the title above, I assure you it has nothing to do with the lizard in the photo possibly having an alter ego who secretly fights crime and supervillains in the reptilian underworld (although I wouldn't rule that out completely: the reptilian underworld is full of surprises, even if our tiny village is a far cry from Gotham City 😜). No, as you might have guessed, the title refers to the rather particular colors of the individual in the photo.
The dark, shiny scale pattern of this adult male is very unusual, and I've personally never seen anything quite like it during my many years of herping in the Ticino. I photographed the fella at the end of last May, which is in the midst of mating season for the species and a period when adult males in our region generally are of a striking emerald green with a turquoise head and look nothing like the one in this photo.
And let me tell you: this fella knew he was something special, and he REALLY didn't want to be photographed (which could of course just have been him trying to protect his secret "super-lizard" identity, but the reptile community so far remains mum on that matter). What I can say for sure though is that this was by far the shiest, most prudent adult male western green lizard I've ever come across.
During my nearly three week stay at my vacation home in the Ticino last year I only ever caught glimpses of him, usually from afar, and he always saw me first. The fly honeysuckle shrub across the street from my garden is where he spent most of his time, and from the pergola in my garden I had a good view of that shrub. So whenever I detected movement between the leaves I would grab my camera, leave my garden through the back and - applying the "sneaky stealth approach" I've perfected over the years and am very proud of - try to get a photo of whatever caused those fly honeysuckle leaves to move.
As I already told you (namely here: www.flickr.com/photos/191055893@N07/51405389883/in/datepo... ), I initially had a very hard time last year to get my green reptilian friends to pose for me, but I eventually did succeed. This guy though had me nearly lose my mind. My pergola is approximately seven meters away from the fly honeysuckle shrub in question, and although that was too much of a distance for a usable photo, many times I was able to see very clear glimpses of the fella through the lense of my camera when I used the full range of the zoom.
And the really funny thing was: he always looked directly at me. Even though I was miles away (well, from a lizard's perspective) and completely harmless to him from that distance, he never let me out of his sight. I often used the zoom of the camera to check for lizard activity from afar, and none of the other individuals ever showed this behavior. As long as I stayed in the garden, they completely ignored my presence.
But this guy clearly had my number; he seemed to actually recognize me and know that I was the irritating human who kept showing up next tho the honeysuckle bush. The reason I'm convinced he was able to distinguish between me and other persons was that there would be other people in the garden next to mine who were sometimes even closer to the shrub than I was, but his eyes always remained fixated only on me. And by the time I got to the lizard residence, he would inevitably be gone.
Which, of course, made me want to photograph him even more. The elusive lizard man became a bit of an obsession of mine (well, actually more than just a bit to be perfectly honest 😉 ); in my mind I started referring to him as "the phantom", because he kept evading my camera. The most maddening thing was that I saw him nearly every day - but he stubbornly and consistently refused to have his picture taken.
It was sheer luck and literally on the last day of my vacation that I spontaneously approached the shrub without even trying to sneak up and more in the hope of finding some interesting insects, that I caught the object of my desire completely by surprise. He seemed so shocked at my sudden appearance that he remained absolutely still (my guess is that he hoped I hadn't seen him), and so I was finally able to capture this secretive and mysterious (super?) lizard and put my obsession to rest. 😊
So I hope you enjoy this (hard earned!) photo; as always: many greetings from Switzerland and have a lovely weekend everyone - and don't hesitate to let me know what you think!
Tags: lacerta bilineata western green lizard lacerta lizard lézard ramarro lagarto smaragdeidechse reptile herp switzerland Ticino Malcantone Swiss suisse svizzera westliche smaragdeidechse lagarto verde occidental lézard vert occidental ramarro occidentale SONY DSC-RX10M4 gogoschka Animals sony rx10m4 animal monteggio schweiz rx10m4 sony
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My best photos are here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...
Western Green Whip Snake (Hierophis Viridiflavus), 09-2021, Monteggio TI (CH)
More TICINO/TESSIN Wildlife Photos (all taken in my garden in Monteggio/Ti, Switzerland): it.lacerta-bilineata.com/ramarro-occidentale-lacerta-bili... (the website exists in ESPAÑOL, FRANÇAIS, ITALIANO, ENGLISH, DEUTSCH)
My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (warning, it's a bit shocking): www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T2-Xszz7FI
THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO:
If you think this snake looks kind of angry, I'd say you're right: it certainly wasn't happy to see me. This type of snake - a western whip snake (Hierophis viridiflavus) is normally very shy; in my experience it flees with enormous speed as soon as it senses or sees a human approaching - unless it thinks it's already too late for fleeing (like when you surprise it in your cellar and it can't get away, which happened to a neighbor once).
In those latter instances, it's very aggressive: it hisses loudly and gets into an upright position like a cobra, and if that doesn't help it will bite you and sometimes not let go (but to be clear, although a bite may be very painful and people with a phobia of snakes might die of fear, this snake is completely harmless 😉)
The German name for the snake alludes to its short-tempered character: it's called "Zorn-Natter", which means as much as "anger-snake" (although "Natter" is the German word only for non-venomous snakes in Euorpe, not snakes in general). It's one of the biggest snakes to be found in Switzerland, and can grow to a length of almost 2 meters.
Now this snake DID see me approach (probably long before I myself saw the snake) - still, it didn't flee. It was early September, and I was looking for western green lizards (Lacerta bilineata) in the fly honeysuckle shrub right outside my garden, when I suddenly realized a big branch stretching over the leaves wasn't a branch at all.
Because the snake didn't flee I believed it hadn't seen me, and I assumed its head was on the far end (both ends of the snake's body were hidden in the foliage), so I tried to find an angle where I could see the head in the hope of a usable photo.
No such luck: because it was the wrong end. Now the other end of the snake's body was pretty close to me and only maybe 1.5 meters away, but from my elevated point of view it was hidden under the leaves. When I slowly went down to my knees to take a peek, I suddenly looked right into a pair of eyes that fixated me with the not very friendly stare you see in this photo. But why didn't the snake flee? This was strange (though I was grateful since it's not easy to get such a shot of an animal that is normally so shy).
And then I saw the reason: only 40 centimeters away from the snake there was a huge male western green lizard, basking in the sun. Now it all became clear: I had obviously interrupted the "biacco" (which is the snake's local Italian name) just as it was getting ready to have a juicy lizard lunch. Much as my presence caused the snake discomfort and certainly fear, it just wasn't ready to let go of such a whopper of a meal. The lizard was blissfully unaware of either me or its impending doom, and thus I found myself faced with a terrible dilemma.
You see, western green lizards are my favorite animals, and although I adore snakes too, the tiny local western green population - already under permanent siege by the many cats in the village and always on the verge of perishing - has grown close to my heart. After observing these lizards for so long, I know most individuals by their color patterns, and the loss of any of them really gets to me. But unlike with the cats (which is a human problem that the cats - whom I love dearly as pets - aren't to blame for), this snake was a natural enemy, and it also had to eat, so I knew the right thing to do was to let nature run its course.
But knowing what the right thing to do is, and actually DOING the right thing, are two different pair of shoes. To my shame I decided to interfere (I honestly, REALLY am not proud of that, and I'm not kidding, but it is what it is). Once that decision was made, I quickly acted.
I didn't want to chase the snake away because that seemed mean (and the fella hadn't done anything wrong), so rather than that I hoped I could catch the lizard's attention. What I actually did (and I promise that is the honest-to-God truth): I made a wave-like movement with my arm and hand. This was - obvisously - the sign for "Snaaake!!!" that I was sure would transcend the human-lizard communication barrier - and I'm sure it WOULD have, had the lizard not been happily dozing with its eyes closed.
So I whispered: "Duuuude, there's a huuuuge snake right next to you!" Naturally, I said this in Italian (these lizards have never been outside our village, so I knew they didn't speak English 😉 ). No reaction. So in a final desperate attempt I shook the branch the lizard sat on, and now it dazedly openend its eyes.
It took the target of my clumsy rescue attempts maybe a second to realize a two-legged, giant monster was shaking its residence, but then it quickly dove into the foliage for cover - but not alone: the snake was right behind it! Western whip snakes are extremely agile hunters, so through my idiotic action I might have doomed my green friend (who had no idea there even was a snake lurking when I caused him to move) after all.
Truth is, I don't know what happened. Hunter and prey disappeared at the same time, and then it was all quiet; I didn't hear the slightest noise that would have hinted at a struggle. When I came back to the shrub an hour or so later I spotted a male Lacerta bilineata that I'm pretty sure was the one I had tried to save.
It didn't move when I approached and was either paralized with fear (or shock after a narrow escape), or it just thought I hadn't seen it and relied completely on its camouflage. Either way, this fella allowed me to make the best close-up and even macro shots I was ever able to make of the species (you can find those on my website via my profile in case you're interested).
Who knows, I keep telling myself the little fella decided to pose like that out of gratitude... 😉
I hope you like the photo (and sorry if I bored you with my lengthy post ) Greetings to you all and have a lovely day/evening!
Tags: Hierophis viridiflavus Green Whip Snake Zornnatter Couleuvre verte et jaune Biacco Culebra Verdiamarilla sony dsc-rx10m4 Lacerta Bilineata gogoschka Western Green Whip Snake green Animals Snakes Reptiles schlange sony rx10m4 reptil grün vert verde animal lacerta bilineata monteggio rx10m4 sony snake portrait portrait animal portrait portraits
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Western Green Lizard (Lacerta Bilineata) | Male In "Wedding Suit" During Mating Season In Spring | Monteggio (CH) | May 2021
More TICINO/TESSIN Wildlife Photos (all taken in my garden in Monteggio/Ti, Switzerland): it.lacerta-bilineata.com/ramarro-occidentale-lacerta-bili... (the website exists in ESPAÑOL, FRANÇAIS, ITALIANO, ENGLISH, DEUTSCH)
My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (warning, it's a bit shocking): www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T2-Xszz7FI
ABOUT THIS PHOTO:
When male western green lizards are in love, their face turns blue. This doesen't happen instantly (they can't change color at will like chameleons); the lizards need to shed their old, slightly less colorful (but also very pretty) skin first, and once that is accomplished, they appear in the beautiful "wedding suit" you can see in this photo.
With this look they try to impress the lady lizards during mating season, which lasts approximately from April to June, but the colors are the most striking in the immediate aftermath of the lizards losing their "old coat". I was very lucky to capture this gorgeous male at this very moment; in fact, you can still see parts of the old, dark skin covering the top of its head and other parts of the body where it hadn't quite come off yet.
But I was lucky in more than one sense with this photo. Let me explain (I have an idea some photographer or other here on Flickr will be able to sympathize with the anecdote that follows ;-). This year in May when I hoped to photograph the green lizards around my vacation home with my newly purchased camera, I soon realized something was different from the years before, because I couldn't find a single one of my green friends in their usual spots in my garden.
As I would learn over the next few days, the entire western green lizard population had relocated from my garden into a huge fly honeysuckle shrub just outside my garden next to an empty horse pasture where they were relatively safe from the growing number of cats in our village that had specialized in lizard hunting. Up in that shrub, not only was it hard for ground predators to get at them, but the lizards also had an excellent 360° view of their surroundings.
Western green lizards are naturally very shy, but this apparently traumatized group now had become hyper-alert to anything approaching them, and they immedately fled into the thickest of the leaves whenever I tried to get near enough for a usable photo. It took me another several days until I had finally figured out at what times of the day the males usually left the fly honeysuckle shrub; I wanted to know their "schedule" so I could be there before them and blend in with the environment, ready to photograph them as soon as they would show up on the ground.
And all my meticulous, hard work seemed to pay off: the first day I took this appraoch a gorgeous male showed up just where I expected it to (although Mr Lizard had me waiting for alomst two hours!). Alas, I hadn't considered where the sun would be and had installed myself in such a stupid angle that the lizard was backlit; in all the photos the little devil appeared only as a mostly black silhouette against the bright morning sun. I cursed my stupidity, tore out my hair and was close to throwing my expensive new camera against a wall in anger and frustration. Then I remembered the cold beer in the fridge and realized that life was still worth living, and I promised myself to do better next time.
The next day I was smart enough to make camp in a spot form where the object of my photographic desire would be perfectly lit (from the lizard's perspective, now I would be the black silhouette against the sun ;-). I waited. And I waited some more. And it was hot and getting hotter by the minute. After nearly 3 hours during which my neighbors started to give me very funny looks (in fact, they had already decided the day before that I must be crazy, what with standing motionless in front of a bush for several hours in the burning sun), around noon, I'd had enough. And that's when I heard something moving in the grass.
And there he was: barely visible through the thick green carpet, but definitely coming towards me. A few seconds later a virtual lizard king appeared, in all his gorgeous green and blue glory, and perfectly lit - and that's when I heard loud, happy voices approaching. Two young boys came running - and the lizard stopped dead in its tracks (unfortunately, it was still a bit too far away for a good photo). I'm not religious, but I started a quick prayer then and there (please God, please: let these kids not be running towards me - PLEASE!!!).
But nope, God apparently remembered that I usually refer to myself as agnostic, and surely enough the two boys ran right to where I was - and where Mr Lizard now wasn't. All that yelling and running was too much for my lizard king: goodbye and "auf Wiedersehen"; see ya next year - and off he went. And that was that. I couldn't believe it; I felt a frustration so intense wash over me I regretted ever having picked up a camera.
As for the kids, don't worry: both boys are alive and well ;-) It was the first day of their Pentecost holiday, and they had just arrived in the village. I was standing next to the empty horse pasture, and the two little boys now innocently asked me where the horsies went (they had obviously been looking forward to seeing them and now were very disappointed). I took a deep breath and muttered that I had no idea.
I don't know how other photographers would have felt in that situation, but I only wanted to be left alone (and possibly tear out what was left of my hair and reconsider that wall and what nice noise it would make upon collision with my camera ;-). Needless to say, the kids had other plans. Now that it was clear that there were no horsies, I had become the main attraction, and they weren't going anywhere. So I swallowed my anger, accepted that - obviously - the kids didn't do anything wrong (and also that I would probably never ever be able to get that desired shot with my new camera).
The boys were eager to know what I was photographing, and so I told them everything about western green lizards, about their amazing colors and how rare and shy they were, and that they were among the largest lizards in Europe and a protected species - and my two new friends became instantly fascinated. Now they wanted to wait and see this magical creature with their own eyes. I assured them there was no chance the lizard would come back after all the noise "we" had made, and just as I said this, one of the boys yelled "I see it!"
And sure enough, he was right. Apparently my lizard king had decided that a little yelling and running wasn't gonna get between him and his favorite sun-basking spot, a little heap of cut, dry grass underneath the fence of the horse pasture. I told the kids to be very still - which they were - and then we all got to see how this beautiful creature emerged from the grass, very, very slowly and carefully, and positioned itself on the heap of dry grass in such a way that it got the perfect amount of sunlight.
So in the end I got my portrait shot - and quite a few more in the weeks that followed (which you can find on my website www.lacerta-bilineata.com ). During the remainder of their holiday the two kids would run into me every now and then, and every time they excitedly talked about this fantastic, blue-headed reptile they had seen with me that day. I guess only time will tell, but I hope this encounter has sparked an interest in nature in them (I have a feeling the next time they spend their holiday in our little village, the horsies will have some reptilian competition ;-)
Tags: lacerta bilineata western green lizard environment fauna lézard ramarro lagarto male maschio mâle macho Männchen smaragdeidechse reptile reptiles herp herps switzerland Ticino Swiss suisse svizzera westliche smaragdeidechse lagarto verde occidental lézard vert occidental ramarro occidentale Sony DSC-RX10 Mark IV gogoschka Animals sony rx10m4 animal monteggio rx10m4 sony western green lizard portrait animal portrait portrait portraits
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