Lizard

A lot of people don't even know we have lizards in this country. They associate them with foreign holidays in hotter climes. But we have our own here. I found this little fella at Chippenham Fen near Newmarket. The photo isn't as sharp as I'd like because this guy is fast and I didn't have a lot of time to catch him. Chippenham Fen is a nature reserve. This is one of the few true Fenland areas left. By Fenland I mean peatbogs. A lot of East Anglia was covered in peat bog, until they decided to drain it. People making a living off the fens catching eels and harvesting marsh reed for thatching were a tad upset and started a guerilla war against the engineers who were building the drains. Acts of sabotage occurred. These "guerilla" fighters were called the "Fen Tigers". They lost the battle and now it's all farm land apart from a couple of places still undrained. They are a haven for all manner of rare plants. And lizards.