Followers on Instagram and Facebook will recognise the name Gareth as he has featured in several posts over the last 6 months.......he even has his own hashtag.....#gareththebluetonguelizard . But not many know his story and how he came to live in our garden.
Back in July I was in full swing in the garden, weeding and mulching which meant lots of wheelbarrow work. Well on one day as I was wheeling the barrow full of weeds across the lawn I accidentally ran straight over the top of a Blue Tongue Lizard. It was the middle of Winter and I certainly wasn't expecting to find him where he was. I felt really bad, so Russell scooped him up and popped him underneath the Pittosporum hedge, where it was nice and dry and out of harms way. A couple of weeks passed and we would often see him out and about, not venturing more than a few metres from the hedge. He would often startle the delivery guy and anyone walking along the path. We soon realised that the wheelbarrow wheel had damaged his back, and although he could get around his back legs didn't work as well as they should do. You can see the depression in his back in this photo, and he also has a discoloured patch on his tail........so we know him by sight and call him by name......Gareth.

At the start we thought that he might have trouble finding food and we collected and gave him snails.

But it soon became obvious that he wasn't hungry as he let the snails climb all over him. I did catch Russell picking strawberries and leaving them for him under his favourite bush.

He has been photographed quite a lot by visitors, sometimes reluctant to come out until after they leave.

As the weather started to get warmer, Gareth started to venture further. After a near miss with mower in October, evident from the covering of lawn clippings, I am now always on the lookout for him.

Maybe he has learnt from that near miss.......this photo was taken about an hour after I had finished mowing!

In December he made his way all the way around to the vegetable garden, but I had to relocate him back to his favourite plant as I had weeding to do and he was getting a little upset with me. The funny thing is that he often hisses at me but never hisses at Russell. I am thinking that he remembers the wheelbarrow incident!

And then he disappeared. We hadn't seen him since the 1st January. We were sad and thought that he had finally moved on and left our garden. And then this morning while I was picking my strawberries look who I found.......yes Gareth. It's definitely him.......with his dented back and marked tail. He has even shed some of his skin.

I left him where he lay.......happy to share a few of my strawberries with him.
And why did we call him Gareth? It was a suggestion by a friend, Simon, on Facebook........and I thought why not!
Linda :)