Destinations

2025

• Morocco
• Extremadura
• Crete
• Menorca (April)
• Lesvos
• South of Salamanca
• Picos de Europa
• Algarve & Alentejo
• The Gambia

2026

• Extremadura

• Holiday calendar
• Archive
• Travel tips
• Nature notes
• NWT Thorpe Marshes
• Honeyguide blog

... where there are many holiday photos to enjoy.

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Photospot: Andalusian Wall Lizard

This page is to show some photos of Andalusian wall lizard Podarcis vaucheri, a species only relatively recently recognised as distinct from Iberian wall lizard.

The main sequence of photos are by Honeyguider John Croft, and were taken on Gibraltar on 15 March 2015. They make a fine showcase for this handsome lizard and speak for themselves ...

1. Male on the prowl ...

2. Male catches female ...

3. Male has caught female ... and finally

4. 'Embracing bundle', as John put it.

More nature notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Honeyguide's Tarifa & Gibraltar holiday

Honeyguide has seen wall lizards on previous holidays in Tarifa & Gibraltar, but we struggled to put a name to a very green lizard on Gibraltar in March 2014.

We sent this photo (below) by Honeyguider Peter Burge to the Gibraltar Ornithological & Natural History Society.

A swift reply gave the ID as Podarcis vaucheri even though it was then not listed on the GONHS website, which was soon updated.

The distribution map (from Wikipedia) shows how Andalusian wall lizard is in north Africa as well as southern Spain.

As this species isn't in field guides, there is a lack of published identification information. Our rather limited observations suggest a structure like other wall lizards, though tending to be a bit bigger.

However that may a superficial impression as sizes for Iberian wall lizard Podarcis hispanica given in guides are much the same as for Andalusian wall lizard Podarcis vaucheri on Wikipedia.

Those we've seen have been strikingly green, compared with Podarcis hispanica, which chimes with pictures via Google Images.

The photo sequence on the left shows how the male is bigger and brighter than the female, with bold spots and blotches.

Immature Andalusian wall lizard? Also on Gibraltar, 15 March 2015 (Chris Durdin).

Other nature notes about herptiles

Peloponnese lizards

Pyrenean brook newt and Pyrenean rock lizard

Andalusian wall lizard at Bolonia, 13 March 2015 (John Croft): the blotches suggest it's a male.