Corporate Services

KRAG provides a range of services to ecological consultancies, educational establishments, planning authorities, conservation organisations and individuals.

Corporate Membership

Conservation Partners

Reptile & Amphibian Database Searches

If you would like to order a database search here is a quick link to KRAG's Online Database Search Form

The Kent Reptile and Amphibian Group database now holds over 20,000 records. The records are being used to identify important herpetofauna sites across the county. Over the past year, KRAG has used the database to help it identify and designate several Key Amphibian and Reptile Sites.

KRAG are also able to undertake database search requests for those organisations and individuals who need access to this important information. Although a small charge is applied to each search, all proceeds go directly to KRAG and help to cover the group's running costs. Any surplus funds are channelled directly into KRAG's conservation activities.

Database search fees are modest. Standard fees are £60, with a 60% reduction available to Corporate Members. Commercial users with a valid KMBRC reference number are also entitled to an additional 40% reduction. Conservation Partners and educational organisations are able to request searches completely free of charge. Searches are also free to all Corporate Members that actively support the database through the submission of records.

A standard search encompasses a 9 km square. This includes the 1 km square within which a grid reference is specified, together with the eight surrounding squares.

You can request a database search by filling in our online record request form

If you have a more complicated search request (e.g. records from a wide area, or along a road or pipeline), please email KRAG to request an estimate.

As well as producing lists of species observations, the database also generates a summary. This can be particularly useful for listing all species recorded within any given area of search and for identifying the closest recorded great crested newt and reptile location (even if no records exist within the immediate area of search). See image below for an example.

The distance and direction information is also included in the record list.This data is particularly valuable in determining the relevance of specific observations. An example of the redesigned record list is shown below:

Any sites that appear in bold are Key Sites. In the example above Ham Street Woods is highlighted. Ham Street Woods has been designated a Key Amphibian Site. Since there may be a considerable number of records available for some key sites, the record search will also generate a summary page when relevant. The site information for Ham Street Woods NNR is illustrated below.

In summary, the KRAG database provides the following information:

Summary of Available Records
List of All Records within Search Area (including distances and directions)
Summary of Key Sites (as appropriate)

KRAG also provides a summary of the available records in digital format for use with Google Earth and other compatible GIS systems. The digital data is particularly useful for visualising records and enables users to quickly determinethe locations of species relative to specific areas of interest. The map below illustrates records around Ham Street Woods NNR and uses new icons designed by Jen Drage at Aye-aye Design.

View Ham Street Woods (updated) in a larger map

KRAG Corporate Membership

KRAG offer Corporate Membership to those companies and organisations that wish to promote best practice when dealing with herpetofauna issues in Kent. All corporate members have signed up to a commitment to work towards best practice in their professional capacities. Corporate membership costs just £50 per year.

To find out more about Corporate Membership and to apply for membership please download the icon Corporate Membership Application Pack (2.8 MB)

Benefits of Membership

Those Corporate Membership logo organisations that are corporate members are able to use the KRAG corporate members logo in their literature to promote their support of best practice. From 2010, Corporate members will be entitled to a 60% discount on database searches of Kent herpetofauna and have FREE access to an online risk assessment tool. Corporate Members can also access other resources that include distribution maps, conservation leaflets and summary data illustrating species activity patterns - along with other relevant information. Examples of this information can be seen below.