SAND lizards bred at the Avon Heath Country Park are being released at seven nature reserves across the country this week.
Dorset is one of three counties where native populations of the lizard remain, and there are 10 captive breeding centres, including the New Forest Reptile Centre and Avon Heath Country Park.
Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, Natural Resources Wales and Natural England have teamed up to safeguard the future of these little lizards, who live on sand dunes and dry heath.
Their numbers have dropped dramatically – by 90 per cent in Dorset – and they have become part of the UK’s Biodiversity Action Plan.
Specialist keeper Isolde McGeorge said: “The release of the lizards is the culmination of hard work and very successful breeding and reintroduction programmes and we hope eventually they will begin to colonise new areas themselves.”
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