A council grounds maintenance team got a surprise in Neston’s Stanney Fields when they were working at the park.
A dragon lurking in the grass was not on the day’s work sheet but Streetscene’s Kev Edwards discovered a bearded dragon lizard whilst strimming the grass in the park.
He carefully took the lizard back to the council depot where another member of the team volunteered to look after him until his owner could be traced.
Happy ending
Luckily, the next day, the owner asked other grounds maintenance staff if they’d seen a bearded dragon and the story had a happy ending.
It turned out the dragon, called Merrick, had escaped from his vivarium and had been missing for three weeks. He has now been reunited with his relieved owner.
The council’s cabinet member for environment Cllr Karen Shore (Lab, Whitby) said: “It was certainly a surprise for our grass cutting team in Neston. I’m pleased that they were able to trace the owner and that Merrick is unharmed from his adventures.”
The lizards, said to be ‘friendly’, are native to Australia and are adept climbers. They grow to be 16 to 24 inches long.
