Kent Reptile and Amphibian Group

KRAG News

A Surprising Find at Bell Lane LNR.

Written by Brian Banks
Friday, 29 April 2011 08:25
Whilst surveying the Bell Lane Local Nature Reserve in Staplehurst this spring I was pleased to find small numbers of palmate newt in an area which is dominated by smooth and great crested newts. A greater surprise, however, was what appeared to be a smooth x palmate newt hybrid in one of my bottle traps. This animal, a male, had a filament on the tail, a low crest and the rather square cross-sectional shape of a palmate newt. The tail was broadly similar in colouration to a male palmate, although it had an orange margin along the underside. The upper body colour was more typical of a male smooth newt, however, as was the throat and belly which were marked with large blotches, although these looked more washed-out compared to a normal male smooth newt. The hind feet resembled neither species. There were no toe fringes, and only slightly developed rather translucent webbing, with a strong pink colouration to the limbs. The specimen was larger than the other palmate newts found in the pond. Interestingly when viewed at night by torchlight the animal tended to look more like a palmate, whilst in daytime it was more reminiscent of a smooth newt, something I noticed in a similar likely hybrid I found in East Sussex last year. Brian Banks Principal Ecologist Swift Ecology

It's Grass Snakes that Swim Isn't It?

Written by Mike Phillips

Friday, 22 April 2011 08:51

Adder_swimming_Riverside_small

Grass snakes are often seen swimming and are associated with ponds. However, seeing adder in water is a much rarer occurance and we are very grateful to Selwyn Dennis for sending this picture from a site in north Kent. We have had reports of adder swimming in the sea in Essex to get to islands just off the coast but as far as we know this is a first for Kent.

More Remarkable Finds at Dunorlan Park

Written by Mike Phillips
Monday, 11 April 2011 00:00
Last week KRAG ran an evening survey session in Dunorlan Park, Tunbridge Wells with two of our Conservation Partners (Kent High Weald Partnership and Tunbridge Wells Borough Council) last night. This is a site that has been designated as a key amphibian site because of its large toad population. Although we were late in the season for toads and the weather was a bit cold and windy we did see a few toads leaving the water as well as lots of toad spawn confirming that these elusive (for most of the year) creatures had been very active in the last couple of weeks. However, the highlight of the night was that we were able to find a great crested newt crawling through the grass on its way to one of the ponds. This is the first time that great crested newts have been found at Dunorlan Park and provided a stunning finale to the evening. Thanks to the Kent High Weald Partnership and Tunbridge Wells Borough Council for their help and assistance in organising this event. The pictures were taken By Tim Christian who also captured this odd shot of an over an over amorous frog!

KRAG and KMBRC Sign Data Sharing Agreement

Written by Mike Phillips
Tuesday, 05 April 2011 18:04
We are delighted to announce that a new data sharing agreement between Kent & Medway Biological Records Centre (KMBRC) and Kent Reptile & Amphibian Group has been signed. This agreement means that the majority of KMBRC (who are Conservation Partners) standard reports will now include a full KRAG report without any extra cost. This ensures that the highest quality reptile and amphibian data is available to our clients with interpretation from the County experts. This is a great step forward in Herpetile protection in Kent.

Great Easter Newt Hunt

Written by Mike Phillips

Sunday, 03 April 2011 11:23

Amphibian and Reptile Conservation and ARG UK are inviting the public to join the Great Easter Newt Hunt (any day between 22nd April and 2nd May) and help provide data to be used for newt conservation:

Little is known about our most widespread newt species
They are the least protected of our amphibians
We need more information about them to plan for their conservation!

The project aims to find out about our most widespread newts – the smooth and palmate newts – and see how much they use Britain’s garden ponds as habitat. Participants are asked to spend just 20 minutes on one day over Easter counting the newts in their ponds.

For more information go the project website.

ARC