Night Yard

This is Ian.



A few nights ago, as I was peacefully sleeping in my bed, my mom came in and woke me up, asking if I had locked the doors and closed the gate that we had open so Eliza could run laps around the house. Even though I said I did, I had to check again. (Moms!)

When we go outside, we have to be careful about where we step, as our yard is full of slugs who wander wherever they please, and as I carefully avoided what seemed to be another slug, this creature ran a few feet about 20 minutes faster than a slug would. Looking closer, I saw that it was a lizard. (Referred to as the common lizard, or by its fancier name, the Zootoca Vivipara) He stayed perfectly still long enough to let me go back inside and get my camera.

 

As I was walking over to the gate to make sure it was securely locked, I heard rustling in the rosebushes, and knowing what kind of wildlife there is in Europe, figured it would be worth checking out. (When we visited Norway in august of 2009, we spent a night at LEGOLAND Denmark. There weren’t enough beds for me to sleep inside, so I got a sleeping bag on the porch, but during the night I saw a hedgehog under similar conditions.) Looking closer, it was the common toad. (The name was a letdown again; its scientific name is Bufo Bufo or the European toad)

Eliza was still awake and was glad to see these little nighttime creatures, but we all prefer the ones that come out during the day:

After all, our daytime friends are much more willing to pose for the camera.