KRAG have just made a donation of £500 to Pond Conservation's Million Ponds Project Digging Fund. The Millions Ponds Project is co-ordinated by Pond Conservation and aims to reverse the tragic pond loss that has occurred over the last 100 years or so.  The importance of ponds as a key habitat for many species, not just amphibians, has been recognised recently with ponds being added to the UK Biodiversity Action Plan's list of priority habitats.  As the lead body for this habitat, Pond Conservation have applied for funding through the Biffaward scheme to fund pond creation schemes throughout England and Wales.

By donating £500, KRAG will enable the Million Ponds Project to claim another £4500 from Biffaward to fund badly needed ponds.  So a relatively small donation from KRAG will help make big changes at a landscape level.  We are now busy identifying sites for ponds that will help safeguard amphibian metapopulations in Kent and propose these for funding from the project.

KRAG's series of training events for Getting Toads Out of a Hole is now well underway with training workshops having taken place in Sevenoaks and Ashford with one more left this coming Sunday in Maidstone. 

Participants in the project have learnt about amphibian ecology and identification as well as how to record important habitat information about ponds.  Separate sessions on amphibian survey techniques and outdoor survey sessions were then held.

On Sunday in the Ashford area participants were lucky enough to find all five of Kent's native amphibian species at two separate ponds.

This training is taking place as part of KRAG's new major recording project called Getting Toads Out of a Hole.  The aim of the project is to encourage the recording of all amphibian species with particular emphasis on toads which are severely under-recorded in Kent.  If you have seen any amphibians don't forget to tell us about them using the online recording form.

Not Rowan Atkinson this time but one of the melanistic adders that are sometimes found living amongst our own 'normal' populations of adder.  This one was spotted by KRAG member Kevin Johnson who had these observations to make. 

The weather was warming up and with a sunny day forecast I thought it was worth a look around Bredhurst for emerging reptiles. I managed to locate 5 adders that were basking between midday and early afternoon.

The first individual found was a black adder, presumably male, that was somewhat muddy around the head and obviously recently emerged. I have seen this adder 3 years running now but it moves off by the end of March and cannot be located again by me until the following Spring.

Another individual found about half a mile away was more pristine in appearance, probably because its chosen hibernation spot was a drier chalky bank.

KRAG has recently approved a new data sharing agreement with Kent and Medway Biological Records Centre. Consultants who are required to undertake database searches with KMBRC will now be entitled to a 40% reduction in search fees should they also require records from KRAG. For KRAG's Corporate Members, this could mean a very significant 50% saving on KRAG's normal database search fees. More information about the database together with an online form for search requests can be found in KRAG's Corporate Services area. 

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

KRAG members were treated to not two but three talks from David Sewell and Brett Lewis of The Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology at the University of Canterbury.   The first of the talks was delivered by Brett on his research into mitigation measures that take place as a result of development work.  He invited the audience to consider whether the current measures taken were the most cost effective and appropriate measures to ensure the conservation of protected species.  This was followed by David's talk on the effects of climate change on great crested newts.  David has found that warm, and in particular, wet autumns and winters appear to increase great crested newt mortality rates.  This is paticularly worrying as long term climate change forecasts suggest we will get slightly warmer and considerably wetter winters.  The evening concluded with an assessment of the effectiveness of NARRS survey methodology and how this impacted upon detection rates of animals in the field.  The good news is that one or two small moderations to the methodology to be implemented this year can have a dramatic effect on the reliability of the data collected.  KRAG wish to express their great thanks to Brett and David for these illuminating talks.