A Surprise Visitor

Yesterday when I set out on my usual early morning stroll--in my dressing gown with coffee in hand--to see what was happening in the garden, the very first thing I noticed was a dark shape floating in the pool. On closer inspection I saw it was a blue-tongue lizard. It was looking a little inflated, so I had no doubt that it was dead and was very sad about that. They are beautiful creatures, very slow and gentle, and a great asset in the garden as they eat snails, caterpillars and the like, but also sadly very vulnerable to attacks by domestic pets, including my two terrors.

I fished him out with the pool skimmer and to my surprise he was still alive and seemed to have deflated - perhaps that is something they do to keep afloat.  I just left him where he was in the net near the front door and checked on him from time to time during the day. At one stage he wriggled a little further under the net.

There wasn't much change for about 8 hours. By then it seemed likely he would pull through, but I was a bit conflicted over what to do with him. I thought of carrying him down to the front garden, which is safe from the dogs, because if he just wandered off from where he was, he would be perilously close to their turf. This is the last glimpse I had of him.

When I came back to check after hanging out the washing, he was gone. Farewell, little lizard. Bella and Onslow are away at present before I head off for a mini break. I hope your paths never cross.