Western green lizards' (Lacerta bilineata) preferred habitats consist of a mix of shrubs and open grassland, and as ectotherms the reptiles love to bask on a nice pile of rocks (or other sun-exposed structures such as piles of wood or low walls) to do their thermo-regulation.
The galleries below show you where I shot almost all of the western green lizard photos on this website: my garden in the beautiful community of Monteggio/Tresa in the Malcantone region of Ticino, Switzerland.
These pictures were taken over a period almost 20 years, so there were obviously some changes in the garden during that time, but If you focus on the palm tree (which has grown considerably over the years) and the shed, which remain always in the same spots and are visible in many of the pics, you get a sense of the geography of the place.
In summer the micro-climate in this particular area of Ticino can be almost tropical in the sense that it's hot and very humid with frequent thunderstorms and heavy rain, and I often refer to my garden (half-)jokingly as my "little Swiss rain forest". I guess when you look at the photos you can understand why the place offers such an ideal habitat for western green lizards and other reptiles.
An "old pirate" with only a stump of a tail; this adult male is foraging for snails in the vegetable garden
Here you get an impression of the terrain that borders on my garden, a former vineyard that now often serves as a horse pasture, surrounded by a thick canopy of gorgeous, wild forest.
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