Lizards

Lizards are represented by over 60 species in New Zealand. 
Some of these species lie hidden in the Kaipatiki Reserve.

Lizards can be roughly split into two equal groups - skinks (smooth skin) and geckos (rough skin). When volunteers dig around removing weeds or spreading mulch is has not been uncommon for them to come across skinks scurrying for cover. The picture below left was shot on a the Kaipatiki Project working bee.

GECKOS:

Green Tree Geckos (Naultinus elegans elegans) are often intricately marked with white or yellow. Plain green examples may also occur. The species was historically common in the Glenfield area, and is likely to persist in areas of suitable habitat, such as areas of manuka, kanuka, mingi mingi and similar shrubs or small trees. These geckos are active in daylight.

Forest Geckos (Haplodactylus granulatus) are found in the same kind of habitat as Green Tree Geckos, but are usually active at night, foraging from early evening onwards. They are however sometimes active during the day, and will frequently bask in patches of sunlight on the trunks and branches of trees. The species is still present in areas of scrub in Glenfield, Birkenhead and Albany.

SKINKS:

Copper skinks are commonly found at Kaipatiki Stream Nature Reserve, in the undergrowth while weeds are being removed. Weed piles made in the bush provide replacement habitat for them once weeds are cleared and until the natural understorey of shrubs, native grasses and young plants regenerates. Alternative habitat is also provided by leaving all organic material on the site, where it can be prevented from spreading or regrowing by frequent monitoring from alert passers-by. Fallen logs, sticks, bark, woody weeds and fern fronds are all left as near as is practical to where they are found.

These skinks are prone to attack by cats, who can drive them out of an area quite rapidly. Prickly shrubs and other barriers to cats and dogs are therefore helpful to the lizards' survival...even weeds like blackberry and eleagnus serve this purpose until native plants can be grown densely enough to offer protection.

10 ways to encourage lizards into the garden

• Get rid of the cat and dissuade other cats from visiting the garden

• Encourage thick plant growth on banks, in borders and along hedgerows

• Mulch heavily and encourage a build-up of deep leaf litter.

• Place logs, planks, or bits of corrugated iron where plants can grow around or over them.

• Make rockeries with many loosely placed stones (not firmly embedded in soil) or create stone heaps

• Use dense ground-cover plants

• Leave numerous cracks when building stone or block walls

• Plant berry or nectar producing species, especially native divaricating shrubs

• Allow vines on buildings to reach the roof (but get rid of vines if they're weeds!) so geckos can easily get in and out

• Minimise or eliminate pest spraying so that insect populations increase

• Don't keep a cat!!

(From Tony Whitaker, Forest and Bird, number 294, November 1999)