Good news!  The Reptiles and Amphibians of the UK website which has been an invaluable resource for herpetologists over recent years has been relaunched and what follows is a press release from Chris Davis who has taken ownership of the site.


"Many of you, like me, were extremely disappointed to log on to RAUK and find that it had vanished. Sadly, the work involved in the administration and maintenance of the site together with the related costs meant that Gemma had to finally surrender the reins.

Unfortunately, at that time, on-one had come forward to take over the responsibility. Since then I have been liaising with Gemma firstly to assess the practicality of me doing so and secondly, having established this, the huge amount of work which was necessary to transfer the site to a new server.

Yet again, demonstrating how much Gemma wanted to see the site resurrected, she, as well as me, put a great deal of work into its transfer into new ownership.
RAUK has now been in existence for about 6 years and throughout that time has grown to be an invaluable resource for all of those involved in the herpetological conservation movement and, indeed, any others who share our love for our wonderful herpetofauna in the wild. I am extremely proud that Gemma adjudged me fit to take over the reins from her.

So far as the future is concerned there are no plans for significant changes to RAUK. It will continue to run as a wholly independent online resource where you can discuss our herpetofauna in the forum and use the other resources such as the identification pages.

Gemma has done a superb job over many years and we all owe a debt of immeasurable gratitude to her. You will find a new thread on that subject and I hope you will ALL join me in expressing your appreciation of her efforts. I am pleased to say that she will continue to be an active member of this forum and will retain administrator access as an occasional moderator."

KRAG teamed up with Kent High Weald Partnership to deliver a reptile workshop at Matfield Village Hall and Cinderhill Woods on Saturday, 6th June.  An indoor session covering reptile ecology and survey techniques were followed by a site visit to Cinderhill Woods in an area of restored heathland.  The weather was kind to us and late afternoon afforded some excellent opportunities to search for reptiles.  Numerous viviparous lizards were found openly basking in the excellent habitat that heather provides as well as several slow worm and a grass snake (as well as a nearby shed grass snake skin). 

KRAG would like to thank both Kent High Weald Partnership and all the volunteers who attended the workshop for giving us a great day.  We look forward to records of reptiles from newly established survey sites to start rolling in and helping to make KRAG's herpetofauna database as up to date and comprehensive as it is possible to be.

Feedback from the workshop: "Thank you... for an excellent reptile training day on Saturday" and "Thank you very much for another well-organised, totally interesting and enjoyable KRAG event - the Bough Beech volunteers who came too were well enthused!

Pond Conservation have just announced the launch of the Big Pond Dip and encourages anyone with a garden or school pond to take part.  There is a scoring system so that you can rate how good your pond is for wildlife as well as tips for improving the wildlfie value of ponds.

All results can be entered online and more information can be found on the Pond Conservation Big Pond Dip webpages.

We had a very relaxing morning led around Cowden Pastures KWT reserve by its former Hon. Warden and KRAG member Terry Mullender.  Then after a picinic lunch in the grounds of St Andrew’ Convent we visited land adjacent to nearby Waystrode Manor to follow up on an adder sighting of two years previously.

Cowden is a 6 hectare neutral/marshy grassland site that slopes down to an stream surrounded by an attractive bluebell wood.  There is a good grass snake and slow worm population, some of which were in evidence during our visit.  One of the areas of the reserve had been very heavily grazed by sheep, part of KWT’s programme to upgrade the grassland, but has left little cover of any sort so that it is of no use to reptiles.  Other areas have retained their character and we had fun turning the tin refuges.  These have been in place for several years and have proved a good source of records for the KRAG database.  The damper lower border provided an array of plants typical of moister habitats and a profusion of interesting insects, we managed to get shots of Chrysolina polista and a scorpion fly.  This area has a pond that unfortunately no longer retains water and Terry suggested some work that could be done to open the area a little and create a new and more effective water body – perhaps as part of the ‘Million Ponds Project’.  The land around Waystrode Manor, which is right on the Kent/East Sussex border, made an interesting walk but didn’t provide any herptile observations.

KRAG field days always turn up something of interest, not necessarily to do with herptiles.  This time at Cowden we stumbled on a group of young male fallow deer and in our car park found a Lagonda.  This was the much loved car of a 79 year old enthusiast who kindly spent 45 minutes telling us about the car’s provenance and explaining the modification he had made that exceeded Aston Martin’s specifications.

At this time of year when you might be considering moving frog spawn between ponds, the KRAG Committee would like to remind members about potential problems with Chytrid fungus disease (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis). The status of this fungal disease and its affect on the wider population of amphibians throughout the UK is unknown.  It would therefore be wise to avoid moving spawn from site to site as it might be carrying Chytrid or other pathogens.

Please leave the spawn where you find it. Chytrid is especially difficult to control, if at all, and we do not want to be the reason for further spread of the disease within the UK unwittingly or otherwise.

Further information about Chytrid is available on the Herpetological Conservation Trust website.

Frogs are 'explosive' breeders and often produce what may appear to be 'too much' spawn.  Mortality rates of tadpoles and young frogs are especially high so do not worry about this.  Population levels of amphibians can fluctuate dramatically but this is normally just a natural process. 

Another reason for not moving spawn is that it is impossible to say with certainty whether the pond you move spawn to is actually suitable for frogs.  Fish, newts, other predators and environmental conditions can all contribute to frogs deciding not to spawn in a particular pond.  Let's respect their decision.