newts letter 38 summer 2005

8/7/2019 Newts Letter 38 Summer 2005

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This is your newsletter so feel free to write, e-mail or phone if you are moved to make a contribution, orif there is some topic you feel we could cover. As editor I will always be pleased to hear from you.

Patrick Roper, South View, Churchland Lane, Sedlescombe, East Sussex TN33 0PF.

Tel: 01424 870993 and 870208, e-mail [email protected]

Newtsletter Number 38, Summer/Autumn 2005

Secretarys report for 2004

Allegedly a year of consolidation !! However the work has continued unabated sincethe date of the last report at the Stag Theatre in Sevenoaks in November 2003.

Remember to send in your records

Records of reptiles and amphibians in Sussex are

important. So that they can be fully available toSARG and other conservationists, send them to:

Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre, Woods Mill,Henfield, West Sussex BN5 9SD, phone 01273497554 or 01273 497521. Or e-mail them [email protected]

To find out more ab out the Record Centre and itswork, see the website at: www.sxbrc.org.uk

The SURVEY WORK continues where we left off last year with Barry Kemp beingour main man. Sites looked at in 2004 included:- Lancing College; Brickfield(Seaford); GCN Pond, Arlington and a midnight yomp on Chailey Common lookingat palmate newts all helped by Sussex Wildlife Trust torches. Ongoing surveysinclude general studies at Catsfield and Crowhurst for the Powdermill Trust and aadder assessment at Chailey Common for the Chailey Commons Society. EastHoathly pond has also had some useful data collected . There are many moreexamples. Thanks to all the Committee members and SARG members and volunteersfor their sterling work. Anyone wishing to help with survey work please contact ourSurveys Officer, Barry Kemp(details at the end of thisnewsletter) or keep your eyespeeled for details in our

newsletter columns. An analysisof our Garden Survey, sponsoredby West Sussex County Council,has been published by theSussex Biodiversity RecordCentre 1 . All sightings of herpsshould be sent to the RecordCentre (see box right) and thesenow include sightings of terrapins in the wild.

1 Details from Penny Green at the Centre: 01273 492630 or e-mail: [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.sxbrc.org.uk/http://www.sxbrc.org.uk/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Newtsletter No. 38 Summer/Autumn 2005 Newsletter of the Sussex Amphibian and Reptile Group

Toads on roads

Lots of press reports, editorials etc., but data received from only 3 of the 23 nationalcrossing sites. Litlington and Offham appear to be on the up and females are back again at Newhaven. We intend to review all our toad crossing sites in Sussex in 2005.

Jenny Bacon is our main contact (see list at end of this newsletter). As well as toadsinformation has been gleaned about other species during the migration season. Forexample, thanks to Mike Blow and the team of volunteers at Offham, we now knowpalmate newts disperse over a much greater distance from their ponds than hadpreviously been thought pushing back the frontiers of science. All help betweenJanuary and March will be greatly appreciated.

Talks and the library

There has been a number of talks. Alf Simpson has given several, e.g. to SeafordGardening Club.

Request from the SARG librarian

Janet Claydon, our librarian, does nothave a copy of Newtsletter 34 in herotherwise complete collection.

She would be pleased to hear fromanyone who has a spare copy, or whocould supply a photocopy. Her contactdetails are at the end of this newsletter.

The SARG library update is now completethanks to Janet Claydon. We hope thiswill eventually appear on the SARGwebsite. New additions include kinddonations from two author members: DrLouise Bardsley on garden ponds andCharlotte de la Bdoyres Portrait of a

Woodland (well worth getting for its lovely photos alone). A membership handbook dedicated to Wendy Bowers has also been started, but is currently on ice.

Regional and national matters

Requests to take part in the National Biodiversity Network Gateway and also theHerpetologicalConservation Trustamphibian and reptilerecording schemes(NARRS) have beenreceived. Froglife too

have introduced anumber of newinitiatives and we willbe needing more helpat these levels.

David Harris, May 2005

The SARG Committee after the AGM at Arlington in May 2005

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In brief

There have been some 500 new great crested newt records from SouthernWater.

The Herpetological Conservation Trust are conducting an adder census in2005. Lee Brady is contact for SE England: 01227 751408 [email protected]

The Chailey Common Adder Survey kicked off with the placing of 15 tins onRomany Ridge on 20 March. If anyone wishes to lend a hand between nowand the autumn then please contact 01273 482670 between 8 and 8.30am.

Every cloud has a silver lining

In New Scientist of 20 January 2005 there was a fascinating article about theburrowing owl, Athene cunicularia , of North America. In a review of their bizarrebehaviour author Stephanie Pain says Burrowing owls collect stuff seemingly anyold stuff, from bits of foil and pieces of plastic to lengths of partly chewed centipedeand squashed toads carefully scraped off the road. These items are lovingly arrangedon the ground at the entrance to their nests.

Ranunculus again

In the last edition we mentioned that the word ranunculus is Latin for little frog. Acontributor to the newsletter of the Botanical Society of the British Isles has alsonoticed this and wondered if there is a link between the quantity of buttercup flowers

in marshy meadows and the amount of frog spawn and if the ancient Romans wereaware of this (Walls, 2005).

Long term studies of naturally managed hay meadows in southern England show thatthe quantity of buttercup flowers has a cycle of greater or lesser numbers of floweringplants over quite long stretches of years and that frogspawn seems to have a similarpattern. At Fryent Country Park, Middlesex, for example the survey team havechanced across a possible similarity between the buttercup cycles and variations in the quantity of spawn produced by the common frog. It is obviously unlikely thatthere is a direct causal relationship between the two. Nevertheless, if not coincidental,this could provide a clue to an underlying causal factor that affects both buttercup

frequencies and the population of the common frog. Indeed, the pattern may notactually be strictly cyclic but be a delayed response to environmental factors.(Williams, 2004).

Walls, R. M. (2005) Frogs and buttercups. BSBI News 98 (January 2005) : 30Williams, L. (2004) Apparent cyclic variations in meadow and creeping buttercups.

BSBI News 97 (September 2004) : 20-21

Travelers tip

Once I was in the forest in French Guiana photographing a small fern. I parted theleaves and 5 centimetres beneath my hands was a species of Bothrops , one of the

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deadliest types of viper. It didnt move. Snakes in the rainforest dont move whendisturbed because unlike savannah snakes they cant sense a footfall.

Patrick Blanc, French botanist.

Frogspawn and squirrels

At the Preston Park Wildlife Day in Brighton in June where SARG had a stand, oneof the visitors said that the grey squirrels in his garden had taken to scoopingfrogspawn out of the water with their front paws and eating it. His anyone else seenthis behaviour?

The return of the polecat frogs beware

In July 2004 a polecat Mustela putorius was found as aroad fatality on the A272 near Cowdray Park Golf Course(SU908221), West Sussex. This was the first record of thespecies in Sussex since the late 19 th century. There hasalso been a recent record of one animal from Tenterden inKent and several other unconfirmed reports from our area.

Polecats were formerly widespread in lowland Britain but,following persecution by gamekeepers, farmers and othersand for their fur they were, by the mid-20 th century, pushedback to an area of North Wales centred broadly onTregaron Bog. With the outlawing of gin-trapping and

generally more enlightened attitudes towards nature conservation, the polecat startedto expand its range and is now well-established again across much of central andsouthern England.

The polecat is very closely related to the ferret, Mustela furo . Indeed most authoritiesnow regard them as different forms of the same species. Over the centuriesinnumerable ferrets have escaped from captivity and are known often to have bredwith wild polecats. Dark ferrets, known as polecat-ferrets, have also been deliberatelyraised in captivity and these have escaped too and are sometimes recorded in the wild.

Polecats are fiercely predatory and live on a diet of small mammals, birds eggs,reptiles and amphibians, invertebrates and some vegetable food . They areparticularly fond of frogs and have been known to lay up stores of these, especiallyduring the periods when these amphibians are on the move. Resident polecats mayhave a marked effect on populations of several protected species such as water voles,water shrews and lizards. They were once, of course, one of the natural predators of these species, but current conditions are very different from those that prevailed in thepast and it is not possible to predict the overall impact the polecat will have on ourother wildlife.

The Newtsletter editor, Patrick Roper, would be pleased to hear of any polecat or

polecat ferret sightings or possible sightings in Sussex.

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SARG surveys of the reserves of thePowdermill Trust for Nature Conservation.

by Janet Claydon

Last year we were asked by the Powdermill Trust if we could undertake reptile andamphibian surveys of their nature reserves during 2005 and 2006.

The Powdermill Trust was formed in 1980 and currently has reserves at Catsfield,Crowhurst and Rotherfield, all in East Sussex, and they concentrate on areas wherewildlife may be threatened. It is a membership organisation and details can beobtained from The Walnuts, 38 North Trade Road, Battle, East Sussex TN33 0HU(Tel: 01424 772235). There is also a web site at: www.powdermilltrust.co.uk SARG will be covering Catsfield and Crowhurst this year and Rotherfield in 2006.

Our first field visit was on 29 March when we met manager John Hicks at theCatsfield Nature Reserve to agree sites where carpet tile refugia could be placed toattract herps.

The reserve is in the valley of the Powdermill stream (TQ732147) quite close to thesite of the Battle of Hastings and alongside a reserve of the Sussex Wildlife Trust.The stream floods regularly in winter creating a wet woodland with two lagoons and abog. This is good habitat for frogs and grass snakes (both of which have beenrecorded within the last 10 years) and, perhaps, palmate newts and the large FarthingPond just outside the reserve and popular with fisherman may be a breeding groundfor toads which have also been recorded in the reserve. Much of the higher groundaround the valley is heathy broadleaved woodland and, although light levels arecurrently low, this may have slow-worms and possibly adders. This is also the mostsuitable habitat for the common lizards, recorded from the reserve in 1995.

As well as John Hicks, we were joined at Catsfield by Biddy Jarzembowski andPatrick Roper and had a wonderful walk round. The sun was streaming through thestill leafless trees and the ladys smocks were just coming out, but the most distinctiveseasonal feature was the great carpets of golden saxifrage turning large areas of thewetland into sheets of butter yellow.

Our second outing was to the Crowhurst Nature Reserve (TQ762113) on 10 April,another wonderfully sunny day but following a cold and frosty night which made itrather unlikely that herps would be active by mid-morning. This reserve is essentiallya large abandoned sandstone quarry adjacent to the old railway line that ran fromCrowhurst to Sidley. In the base of the quarry there is a long, shallow temporary poolwith a reasonable volume of water during our visit. The area is quite shady, with treesand ferns growing around the old quarry faces and secondary woodland, largely of birch, in the area of the old railway line. In the past adders have been recorded alongthe railway embankment and the pond certainly looked suitable for palmate newts andfrogs, though no tadpoles were seen. Six carpet tile refugia were set out in what wethought were the best places and the least likely to suffer disturbance from the visiting

public.

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Once the refugia are in place at Catsfield as well we hope that more members of SARG will be able to help with these surveys, so please get in touch with me, JanetClaydon, if you think there is anything you can do. This is, of course, an interimreport, and details of the full results will be given in a future Newtsletter.

John Hicks, voluntary warden with Janet Claydon (centre) and Biddy Jarzembowski planningthe amphibian and reptiles survey at Powdermill on 29 March.

Glyphosate (Roundup weed-killer) and amphibians

Rick Relyea of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Pittsburghin the United States has been doing important research on the impact of insecticidesand herbicides on aquatic wildlife.

Among other things he discovered that the well-known weed-killer Roundupcompletely eliminated two species of tadpoles and nearly exterminated a third species,resulting in a 70% decline in the species richness of tadpoles.

In response to this Monsanto, the manufacturer of Roundup, have said A risk assessment based on exposure of amphibians and other aquatic organismsdemonstrates that normal use of glyphosate formulations are not expected to causeunreasonable adverse effects to amphibians, including tadpoles.

Technicolor toads

BBC Wildlife Magazine were asked why toads in one area varied so much in colour.The answer was given by Jules Howard of Froglife in the May 2005 edition of themagazine.

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He said that common toads range in colour from red to black to green. They are ableto change the shade of these colours, chameleon-style, by altering the concentrationsof the components in the pigment cells under the surface of their skin. They can dothis in a matter of days, sometimes hours.

Though its tempting to think of colour as an expression of genes (as is the case witheye colour), toad colours are generally a reflection of their external environment particularly temperature. Toads, like most amphibians and reptiles, are dependent ontheir surroundings to generate body heat and have thus evolved mechanisms, such ascolour change, to retain or dissipate heat as efficiently as possible. As a result,lighter-coloured toads are more common on warmer, sandier soils, where heatretention is of less importance and where they can benefit from added camouflage.Black toads are more common just after hibernation, when heat absorption is apriority if theyre to beat other toads to the spawning grounds.

Exploding toads in the 'pond of death'A remarkable story was much taken up by the media on April 25. Apparentlyhundreds of toads had met a bizarre and sinister end in Hamburg, Germany: theyexploded. According to reports as many as a thousand of the amphibians perishedafter their bodies swelled to bursting point and their entrails were propelled for up to ametre.

Werner Smolnik of a nature protection society in the northern city of Hamburg said itwas like "a science fiction film. You see the animals crawling on the ground, swellingand then exploding." The death toll has been so bad that the lake in Hamburg has

been dubbed "the pond of death".

Access to it was sealed off and every night a biologist visited it between 2am and3am, which appeared to be the peak time for the batrachians to go bang.

Newtsletter will report further on this if information is received.

Golden frorfe?

In the section on readers queries, New Scientist of 23 April 2005 carried a letter froma London reader, Clare Dyer, in which she describe what appeared to be attempts by

frogs to mate with the golden orfe in her pond. She supplied a photo showing one of the frogs firmly grasping a still living fish about the same size as itself. The fish wasclearly unable to get away. She said that several of her orfe had sustained injury andasked Is a killer frog on the loose?

Has anyone come across this sort of thing in Sussex or elsewhere, and/or can anyonesupply an explanation?

A book to treasure

A few weeks ago I heard about book Lives of British Lizards written by Colin Simmsin 1970 and managed to obtain a copy very inexpensively via the Internet.

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What a wonderful little book it is. Simms, as well as being a first-class field naturalistand scientist is a successful poet and this is reflected in the often very moving way hewrites about his reptile friends. He describes, for example, his first encounter with acommon lizard in Teesdale as a boy there were rounded boulders with lichen patcheslike old lace doilies on them, and atop one of these a lizard rested statuesque, on thin

forelegs. His shadow might have followed the sun like a sundial indicator around thatraised circumference as the day went on. He was a miniature sculpture chiselled outof living metal, all angles, and wanting interpretation. I read him as an elfin thingaccidentally turned out of a cave of wonders to run on the mires of the earth ineternity; a forgotten troglodyte.

The SARG AGM & Members Day held onSunday 22 May 2005 at Arlington Reservoir

Jenny Bacon, SARG Chair

We held our third AGM at Arlington Reservoir this year courtesy of SE Water, thesun shone and the rain stayed away providing a great day for all. The AGM ran from11am 12 noon and we had our display material on show plus a few amphibians andreptiles. We stopped for a picnic lunch, then off in search of small mammals and anyreptiles we could find under tins that had been put down. Our findings included asmall shrew, a newt or lizard of some description although it moved so fast I didnthave a chance to see, plus a good selection of slugs, snails, woodlice, spiders andbumble bees. To end the afternoon and for the children present we went pond dippingfinding small newt nymphs, dragonflies and larvae, many water beetles and more.The afternoon finished around 3 oclock.

The event in this format was a first and we would like to build on the theme so pleaseput the date of next years meeting in you diary SUNDAY 21 ST MAY 2006 and enjoy

an afternoon full of fresh air, wildlife and good company.

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A Weald Heathland Initiative event

Reptile Monitoring Techniques

with Dr Lee Brady. Organised by the Weald Heathland Initiative

Friday 16 September 2005, 9.30am 3.30pm

Ashdown Forest Centre, Wych Cross, East Sussex

This training course is aimed at heathland managers, landowners, enthusiasts oradvisors. You will get the chance to learn the basics of reptile population monitoring .Bring a packed lunch.

Please book with the High Weald AONB Unit, telephone 01580 879500 or [email protected] by Wednesday 31 August 2005.

Despite declines in distribution and abundance that have led to their legal protection,reptiles are often overlooked by the conservation practitioners responsible fordeveloping management strategies. Reptiles can be a difficult group of animals toobserve and some species require considerable field-craft to study effectively. Leewill introduce the British reptile species, highlighting the aspects of their life-historythat help us more easily to record presence and some of the more advanced techniquesthat are necessary for monitoring changes in populations. Habitat requirements willalso be discussed with particular emphasis on the importance of heathland and itssensitive management.

Members enjoying a wildlife walk on the AGM and Members Day at Arlington. Remember to make anote for your diary next year same place on Sunday, 21 May 2006.

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SARG COMMITTEE MEMBERS JUNE 2005

SARG Web Site www.safari.com/reptile

Chair & Toad Crossing Coordinator

Jenny Bacon

Hammonds Green Cottage, HammondsGreen, Framfield, East SussexTN22 5QHTel: 01825 890236E- mail: [email protected]

Secretary

David Harris

7 Gibbon Road, Newhaven,East Sussex, BN9 9EWTel: 01273 515762E-mail: [email protected]

Minutes Secretary

Eileen Harris

26 St Peters Road, Seaford, East SussexBN25 2HPE-mail: [email protected]

Treasurer

Sue Pitcher

30 Beckett Road, Worthing, West SussexBN14 7EXTel: 01903 522611. E-mail:[email protected]

Surveys Officer

Barry Kemp

Amblehurst, Nevill Road, Crowborough,East Sussex TN6 2RATel: 01892 663942E-mail: [email protected]

Heathland Forum rep & Arlington Advisory Committee Rep

Alf Simpson MBE

Hardanger, Littleworth, Partridge Green,Horsham, West Sussex RH13 8JFTel: 01403 710694E-mail: [email protected]

SARG Library

Janet Claydon

9 Kingsway, Seaford ,East Sussex BN25 2NETel: 01323 492066

Events

Linda Burnham

20 Palehouse Common, Framfield,Uckfield, East Sussex TN22 5QYTel: 01825 890852

Newsletter Editor

Patrick Roper

South View, Churchland Lane,Sedlescombe, East Sussex TN33 0PFTel: 01424 870993E-mail: [email protected]

South East Water

Emma Goddard

The Lodge, Arlington Reservoir, Berwick,Polegate, East Sussex BN26 6TFTel: 01323 870810 Ext23E-mail: [email protected]
http://www.safari.com/reptilemailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.safari.com/reptile

newts letter 38 summer 2005

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