Now that's what I call a lizard ...

[Janet]

You've all heard about the Corner family, comprising Mr & Mrs C, and Miss & Master C, and you might be familiar with the Rose family who live in the original cottage wall under an ancient rose bush that has refused all efforts to dislodge it ... and maybe also with Joe Smallweed, the cross lizard with the brightest coat imaginable (hence Joseph of the dreamcoat and Smallweed, the little ball of bitterness, from Bleak House) ...

and I'm sure you've heard of the giant lagarto of El Hierro ...

but none of them come close to the largest lizard in the Canaries, in Gran Canaria. Some building works have uncovered a whole tribe of them, and the local Ayuntamiento has authorized their transfer to an area where their survival will be guaranteed. Some 500 have been moved to fincas with walls and orchards full of fruit trees ... paradise for lizards!

Here's one of them. Amazing!

[Nova]

Wow, that's not a lizard - that's a dinosaur!!!

[Janet]

Here's a video of the Gran Canarian lagarto ...

[Perikles]

Wow, that's not a lizard - that's a dinosaur!!!

Or a midget

[Michael]

Lizards are sooo cool. 

But Janet, if the lizards in your garden were that size...................... 

[Janet]

We'd have no bloody cheese left if they were!

[Nova]

But Janet, if the lizards in your garden were that size...................... 

... there'd be no coleslaw left in the supermarkets for the rest of us 

x-posted with Janet!! 

[Perikles]

Right - It's goodbye to you little Gallotia gallotia, I'm going to import some Gallotia stehlini to take your place. 

[Myrtle Hogan-Lance]

I think it's a very handsome lizard.

[Janet]

You've all heard about the Corner family, comprising Mr & Mrs C, and Miss & Master C ... 

And Mr C is no more, he died this morning. What a life he had!

Our arrival in the mountains couldn't have been long after he hatched, and when we moved into our cottage in 2008 he was just setting up his family in the little network of hollows in the dry stone wall at the corner of the cottage.

Over the last nine years, he's come to ask for breakfast, made eyes at me (and only me!!), and eaten croissants, coleslaw, egg mayonnaise, tuna, chicken, you name it, from our fingers, and come walking across the wall to see us.

His life coincided with a veritable golden age for lizards in this part of the Tenerife heights!!

And he died, basking in the sun, having remained unmolested by cats, birds of prey (or chickens!!), or rodents, and having been pampered like a lizard never was before!

It's impossible to be sad for a life that was so fortunate! But my word, I'll miss my Mr C!

He is now laid to rest under the olive tree, in the little mound of rocks that we call "the mount of olives"! Quite appropriate for Easter week!

Here he is, as he was in his prime. Wasn't he lovely?! (well he was to us, anyway! )

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