The race to save lizards from being crushed by diggers working on a £229,000 Angus cycle path has been given more time.
Work on the cycle path is causing problems for the lizard population at Montrose, with it set to cut through one of the few remaining lowland populations of the species in Angus.
Friends of Angus Herpetofauna (FAH) are embarking on a rescue mission to move wild lizards from the Kinnaber area of the town to areas which will be unaffected by the work.
Contractors have moved in to clear out the gorse scrub and excavation work was set to begin today. However, the starting date has now been put back, giving volunteers more time to remove the lizards.
Trevor Rose from FAH said, “There has been a further reprieve for the lizards. I’d like to think this is for our benefit, but I am told the contractor has other work elsewhere. We have at least until Monday, April 25, to keep searching.”
The cycle path, linking Montrose to Northwater viaduct, cuts through common lizard habitat. Work had already started near to the viaduct when Mr Rose noticed that construction workers’ storage units had been placed on the Kinnaber Moor section of the planned cycle path.
Mr Rose contacted the council’s roads department and arranged to meet the engineer in charge of the works. Plans revealed the proposed route for the cycle path was the line of the old railway, a raised embankment covered in gorse scrub, long since abandoned and now home to hundreds of common lizards.
As common lizards are protected against intentional killing and injuring, the council was obliged to accommodate mitigation measures.
Image used under a Creative Commons licence courtesy of Flickr user Squeezyboy.