Fauna

Ranas

Canarian tree frogs are, for half the year, the most audible feature of the garden at night. Their annual party seems to get a bit longer each season, but by August most of the adults have left their tiny offspring in the pond and climbed to the top of the palms from where they exchange occasional croaks.

Aves

Our trees and water attract a lot of migratory birds, swallows always call in for a couple of weeks on the way to and from Africa, while a heron managed to scoff a large number of frogs in a short time, at least they were quiet for some time after the visit. Lanzarote’s sub-species of blue tit are resident here, having nested in this garden every year for a decade. More recent residents are some shrikes which are getting quite tame (They look cute and cuddly until you observe the dagger at the end of the beak). These lack the large claws of other birds of prey and so use thorns or barbed wire to hold their lizard prey while they eat, sometimes impaling surplus on a suitable spike for later consumption. Since 2011 the Long-eared Owl has been breeding with success in the area and can be seen below on a hot day in 2017 resting in an area of succulents in the garden.

Mammals

In Lanzarote, there is only one native species of mammal – the Canarian shrew – however, we receive frequent visits from north African hedghogs (photo below) which were introduced by humans to the Canary Islands in the 19th century.

Aves

Two species of lizard and a gecko are permanent residents, the first two are hard to miss in the garden, with the larger species of lizard (Lagarto de Haría) featuring attractive turquoise spots on its side. Photo below by Guillermo Rodriguez

Our policy of discouraging cats in the garden means that a visitor can get very close to these lizards, and with a bit of patience they can get tame enough to get fed by hand.

Insects

Many species of native bees, spiders, moths and butterflies have been spotted in the garden, with the Monarch being the largest and most striking. The pond attracts dragonflies and the frogs keep the mosquitoes under control. We have also spotted at least 2 types of mantis – the Sublime Conehead Mantis (Hypsicorypha gracilis Burmeister, 1838) and the Canary Dwarf Mantis (Pseudoyersinia canariensis) which is classed as endangered. 

Visiting fauna

Every now and again some visitors from Africa get blown over to Lanzarote – locusts have sometimes descended – in 2004 a large swarm of locusts arrived on the island. Fortunately they were too exhausted to do much damage. Most of them tried to seek the warmth of the black tarmac roads with predictably fatal results. Some specimens were collected for my science classes and one was borrowed by our colleague Linda Sabbage in the art department and resulted in this lovely drawing below.