wildlife...

These little lizards are everywhere on Madeira. They are only 3 or 4cm long and dart about all over the place. I have struggled to get one of them to stand still long enough for me to take a photo of them. This one, for some reason, sat watching me from its hiding place while I gradually moved the camera closer and closer, until it was almost touching it. Very accommodating little creature.

The Terapins at the botantical gardens are lovely. They live in a pond in the gardens, and seem to spend their entire life piled on top of one another sunning themselves. Again, this one, who I shall call Frank, was not in the least bit camera shy. Mrs McMuffin impressed me today, by telling me that she could see the meniscus of the water really clearly in the photograph. You will have to look this up, but I think it has something to do with the surface tension of the water.

This is a very pretty cat.