ONCE close to extinction, sand lizards have been revived to inhabit the New Forest shadows they roamed for years.

It is not a scene from Jurassic Park and dinosaurs are not about to rampage across Hampshire - this is a much safer type of lizard all together.

And hopefully the hand-rearing skills of Forestry Commission chief keeper Martin Noble will ensure Britain's rarest reptile will no longer be a stranger to the New Forest.

Indeed, the surrogate "dad" has celebrated his 1,000th youngster's first steps into the wide, wild world.

Martin has been gathering eggs from the New Forest Reptile Centre, near Lyndhurst, as part of a project to reintroduce the sand lizard into the area. The project, which now produces around 200 young every year, has had its most successful year yet with 94 per cent of the eggs producing healthy young.

Martin said: "The sand lizard is Britain's rarest reptile and is limited to a handful of sites around the country.

He said: "It doesn't matter how many you bring up, it's always a special moment when you see them going into the wild."

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