Newts Letter 42 Winter 2006

8/7/2019 Newts Letter 42 Winter 2006

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Newtsletter 42 Winter 2006/7

Brushcutters for all

Two Stihl FS80 Brushcutters are now available for use by SARG members for

conservation projects where vegetation reduction or clearance is required.

The brushcutters come complete with a selection of heads together with harnesses and

safety wear.

The equipment is free of charge to SARG members but any materials (fuel , blades,

cords etc) must be replaced or paid for.

Please contact Barry Kemp for collection details On : 01892 663942 or

[email protected]

In brief

Scottish wedding rings carry with them a lot of interesting designs. The Water and

River Rings are inspired by the normal flow of water. The Gold Adder Ring has a

history of being made for a Scottish gold panners wife who watched adders when her

husband panned gold.

Top-Journals weblog

Snakes eggs for tea

When working in Bexley, Kent there was a panic in the Park Caf when a couple of

small snakes slithered across the floor. It turned out to be grass snakes hatched from

the pot plant compost [hmm - unsterile compost in a food outlet...]. Not too far away

snake eggs were found in the large compost heap, and foxes would dig for these and

other titbits [possibly caching some away elsewhere].

Duncan McNaughton

Milton Keynes provides many of its own jobs, its home commuters gliding around the

town's extensive and free-flowing road network. Traffic jams are rarer than great

crested newts. It takes about 15 minutes, by car, to cross from one side of the city to

another.

Jonathan Glancey in The Guardian

Arboreal newts
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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It was announced this month that a business park in Co Durham would go ahead only

after the developers agreed to enact a 100,000 plan to plant trees to protect a newt

colony there.

Elizabeth Colman, The Times, 18 December 2006

Cybersarg

Radio tagging adders in Yorkshire:http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1811634

Three little frogs Office Humour Cartoon

http://www.office-humour.co.uk/cartoons/5022/

Climate change in Europe is worsening the impact of a deadly disease which is

wiping out vast numbers of amphibians, according to new research.

The study, published in October 2006 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society

B, looks at changes in the populations of common midwife toads in a mountainous

region of Spain over a period of 26 years.

The researchers, from Imperial College London and two Madrid institutions, found a

correlation between significant warming of the local climate in Spain between 1976

and 2002 and the emergence of the fungal diseaseBatrachochytrium dendrobatidis

(BD) in the area.

The fungus infects amphibians' skin and is believed to cause disease by interfering

with the skins ability to absorb water. As a result of BD, the common midwife toad is

now virtually extinct in the area of Spain studied by the researchers, the Penalara

Natural Park, where it was once thriving.

The researchers suggest it is likely that increases in the number of BD-related mass

mortalities are due to a combination of factors relating to climate change. As

amphibians are cold-blooded, their body temperature is linked to the surrounding

environment, meaning that changes in external temperature may affect their bodies'

ability to respond to disease. The researchers also believe that BD may be better able

to thrive in warmer conditions, with milder winters allowing it to survive and growthroughout the year.

The researchers now want to assess whether changing climatic patterns are likely to

impact on the rates of BD in amphibian populations across the rest of Europe.

Dr Matthew Fisher , from the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at

Imperial College London, and one of the authors of the paper, said: "You cant

overstate how serious this pathogen is - it is the worst infectious disease ever recorded

among vertebrates in terms of the number of species impacted, and its propensity to

drive them to extinction. When you look at the reality of the disease it's the hardest

hitter there is and the amphibian tree of life is being very severely pruned by it.
http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1811634http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1811634http://www.office-humour.co.uk/cartoons/5022/http://www.office-humour.co.uk/cartoons/5022/http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/people/matthew.fisher/http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/people/matthew.fisher/http://www.office-humour.co.uk/cartoons/5022/http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1811634


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"This is a wake up call that we are losing biodiversity fast. Climate change appears to

be changing patterns of disease and previously resistant species are becoming highly

infected and even, in a number of cases, becoming extinct," he added.

The new study follows on from the Global Amphibian Assessment survey published

in Science earlier this year, which revealed that a third of the world's amphibianspecies are in danger of extinction, many of these as a consequence of infection by

BD.

The research was carried out by scientists from Imperial College London, the National

Natural Science Museum, Madrid and the Universidad Europea de Madrid. It was

funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), UK and BBVA

Group, Spain.

The Literary Herpetile

Frogs. Everyone seems to collect frogs. Especially single women. Why do we likethem so much? I recently read that the Japanese believe frogs bring prosperity to the

home.

from the catalogue of Blenko Glass, West Virginia.

A Narrow Fellow In The Grass

by Emily Dickinson.

A narrow fellow in the grass

Occasionally rides;

You may have met him, did you not,

His notice sudden is.

The grass divides as with a comb,

A spotted shaft is seen;

And then it closes at your feet

And opens further on.

He likes a boggy acre,A floor too cool for corn.

Yet when a child, and barefoot,

I more than once, at morn,

Have passed, I thought, a whip-lash

Unbraiding in the sun,

When, stooping to secure it,

It wrinkled, and was gone.

Several of nature's people

I know, and they know me;


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I feel for them a transport

Of cordiality;

But never met this fellow,

Attended or alone,

Without a tighter breathing,And zero at the bone.

Emily Dickinson evidently liked reptiles and amphibians. Heres another of her

verses fromI'm Nobody! Who Are You?

How dreary to be somebody!

How public like a frog

To tell one's name the livelong day

To an admiring bog!

Batrachian philosophy

A frog without a life history is as impossible as a life history without a frog. A frog in

pickle is a cross-section of its history as a living organism, and anatomy is biology

with the time dimension omitted. Anatomy studies the organism in timeless space.

J. H. Woodger (1967) in Biological Principles.

Add an Adder

The Herpetological Conservation Trust (HCT) is running a web-based survey of adder

status in Britain called "Add an Adder" (www.adder.org.uk ). Whilst it was initially

aimed at gathering adder data from the public, the Trust is now focusing on an

important aim of trying to identify patterns of population loss. The website has a

simple data entry form to record details of adder locations (click on "Enter Records"

or go to www.adder.org.uk/newform2.php), and one of the key things it asks the

recorder is for an opinion on whether the adder population is still extant or extinct.

The Trust has about 750 records so far, but are attempting to get to 1000 records

before we perform analysis. Any additional records you have, particularly of

populations lost would be welcome. If you go to www.adder.org.uk and click on

"Results so far", you can see a map of them, with the populations thought to be lost

marked as red dots.

The Trust is keen to try and collect as much information on adder population

loss as possible, so the assessment of extant vs extinct is all-important. Please don't

offer all your adder data at this stage, as the Trust won't be able to use it unless

records are filtered according to location/population and each population is attributed

with a yes/no assessment of current status. If you think you could easily identify

extant and extinct adder populations in your county, using the data you hold or other

historical sources, then please do help the Trust if you can. It just takes a simple

yes/no assessment of each past or present adder population. The Trust are keen to get

such records from as many counties as possible, so we'd be extremely grateful if you

could help us.


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FromNaturewatch

Illegal habitat destruction

It pays to disobeyThis survey has shown that the illegal destruction of habitat is one of the major

concerns nationally.

It is rated as the most significant crime across Britain, being particularlyprevalent in the southern half of England.

87% of the wildlife officers who responded to the survey felt that the fines were too

small. Legislation concerning habitat destruction focuses on species which are

deemed to be nationally threatened, such as water voles, dormice and great crestednewts, or others chiefly bats which are regarded as being under particular threat

from development.

We will focus on great crested newts for reasons that will become clear. Three

examples should suffice to illustrate the ranges of fines that tend to be imposed for

harming the habitat of great crested newts. (Most of this information is available in

press releases on the English Nature website).

In Essex in 2005, an individual was fined 250 with 35 costs for damagingthe resting place of Great Crested Newts.

In Co. Durham in March 2005, a man was fined 1,000 and ordered to pay500 costs, after dredging a large pond of weed in which he knew there were

great crested newts. Numerous newts and frogs were subsequently found to

have been trapped in the removed weed, some of which had been killed. The

man had been planning to build three bungalows adjacent to the pond.

In July 2002, a housing developer from North Yorkshire was fined 7,600 fordestroying a large colony of great crested newts at a former Butlins holiday

camp. According to English Nature, A wildlife survey found at least 272

newts living in an old swimming pool, boating pool, disused water tanks and

smaller ponds on the derelict site, with the total newt population estimated at

over 1000. The mix of rubble, rough grassland, trees, shrubs and derelict

buildings were perfect for the thriving population. The developers applied

for a licence after consulting with English Nature and carrying out a detailed

survey of the site but were turned down in September last year as they did not

have valid planning permission. Weeks later they levelled the site.

It seems intuitively obvious that these fines are low but for an objective assessment

of the scale of the fines, we sought to compare them with the costs faced by

developers for conducting a survey and providing suitable mitigation for compliance

with the law.


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We contacted English Nature, who do not appear to have access to this information.

They take the view that if developers build on sites that have wildlife value, they

should expect to pay the cost.

A developer in Gloucestershire was more forthcoming. Planning permission for a site

at Olney was conditional on their carrying out a full environment survey. Thisrevealed the presence of one great crested newt in a pond. The mitigation which was

thus required involved fencing the pond and translocating the newt after its

hibernation. Later, two others were found. All three were moved to a suitable site. The

total cost of this activity to date is 40,138.50, with the developer expecting to pay

another 5,000 before the project is completed.

These actual costs are far higher than any of the fines levied in the cases above: it is

more than twenty-five times higher than in the weed-dredging case in Durham, and

over five times higher than that for the destruction of at least 272 newts and their

habitat in North Yorkshire even though the number of newts involved (three) was

far lower than in either case.

The developer was also anxious to point out the additional, less visible, costs with

which they are faced in these circumstances. These include paying interest for a year

on a loan of 1-3million, and management salaries for the same duration: together,

this may amount to well in excess of 100,000. Although these costs are less tangibly

related to the newts than those of mitigation, they are no less real to the developer.

It cannot help the conservation of the great crested newt (or any other species) to have

such a vast gap between the high cost of obedience to the law and the low cost of

infringement. We cannot avoid concluding that the scale of the fines is so low as to

make a mockery of the law. Attention also needs to be paid to the very high scale of

actual costs that developers face when they are committed to discharging their

obligations to the letter and spirit of the law. It is beyond the scope of the present

report to recommend ways by which this might be achieved while retaining

effectiveness in conservation, but neglecting this issue will encourage developers to

flout the law in order to pay the comparatively negligible cost of a fine.

Naturewatch recommends that a Parliamentary Select Committee should focus

on the illegal destruction of habitat, so that the issue of the high costs of

compliance and the low penalties for disobedience might be addressed. This

might be a natural topic for the Environmental Audit Committee as a follow-upto their October 2004 Wildlife Crime report. Alternatively, as the subject cuts

across several departments, it might be equally suitable for the select committees

associated with DEFRA, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister or the Home

Office.

Of toothpaste, frogs, and Triclosan

Have you ever thought that your choice of toothpaste may affect frogs' development?

I did not. So I was surpised to learn that it does. If the toothpaste or the deodorant or

the liquid soap you buy contains Triclosan, you are exposing yourself to a chemicalthat appears to disrupt thyroid function in frogs, as reported in the 3 November edition


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ofLiving on earth.

According to Steve Curwood's report: "Triclosan is probably best known as the

bacteria-fighting ingredient in liquid soap, although it's also used in everything from

toothpaste to hot tubs to trash bags. But now some scientists are telling us that minute

amounts of triclosan - amounts found in the majority of America's streams and rivers- can be enough to disrupt thyroid function in frogs, and perhaps humans." (read

more)

Caren C. Helbing associate professor at the University of Victoria in British

Columbia, co-auhtor of the study of the impact of triclosan on frogs development,

says: " the brain is a very very sensitive organ for thyroid hormone action; especially

during early development around the birth period. And also through out life in

adolescence and in adulthood the brain is very dependent on proper levels of thyroid

hormone. So even though there are some obvious difference between frogs and people

the fundamental biology is very very similar. And thyroid hormone is the exact same

chemical in frogs compared to humans. "

She also adds "Well, I would certainly think twice about whether you need and want

triclosan in the products you're using, certainly from the standpoint of its uses as an

antibacterial agent and now with our work with potential implications on thyroid

hormone, certainly on wildlife, maybe on humans too. Think twice about using it."

I took her advice and decided to avoid any product containing Triclosan, and you?

More information on Triclosan

References

Nik Veldhoen, Rachel C. Skirrow, Heather Osachoff, Heidi Wigmore, David J.

Clapson, Mark P. Gunderson, Graham Van Aggelen and Caren C. Helbing The

bactericidal agent triclosan modulates thyroid hormone-associated gene

expression and disrupts postembryonic anura development.

RECYCLE PLANT FEARS

CONCERNS over proposals to build a waste recycling plant in Chiddingly were

discussed by residents at a recent meeting. The parish council hosted the meetingfollowing plans by Veolia (previously Onyx) to build a 15 metre high waste plant on

the edge of Whitesmith, a rural hamlet within the village area.

More than 50 residents attended and issues raised included concerns about the

neighbourhood suffering from noxious fumes and the smell coming from the factory.

Two representatives from Veolia were also present at the meeting to give a talk about

what the proposals involved but failed to quash concerns from local councillors and

parishioners about the development.

John Collis, a spokesman for the company, discussed environmental issues which

involved re-housing a colony ofgreat crested newts and tree screening the building.
http://www.loe.org/shows/shows.htm?programID=06-P13-00044#feature1http://www.loe.org/shows/shows.htm?programID=06-P13-00044#feature1http://www.loe.org/shows/shows.htm?programID=06-P13-00044#feature1http://www.beyondpesticides.org/pesticides/factsheets/Triclosan%20cited.pdfhttp://www.beyondpesticides.org/pesticides/factsheets/Triclosan%20cited.pdfhttp://www.loe.org/shows/shows.htm?programID=06-P13-00044#feature1http://www.loe.org/shows/shows.htm?programID=06-P13-00044#feature1http://www.loe.org/shows/shows.htm?programID=06-P13-00044#feature1


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Eastbourne News 9 Nov 2006

20,800 a newt

Nov 10 2006

By Richard Fletcher, Chester Chronicle

CONSERVATION work that saved 15 great crested newts

from a road-building project ended up costing taxpayers

312,000 - 20,800 per newt.

The final totals mean the precious newts are about 200 times

more valuable than gold.

The Highways Agency began work at the end of July to

remove the great crested newts, a protected species, from theproposed site of the A5117 Deeside Park junction

improvements near Saughall, so they could be relocated to

nearby fields before work began on Wednesday.

Plastic 'newt fencing' was erected across farmland and 3,060

'newt traps' were placed along its 15.5 mile length.

Conservation workers checked these daily and required a five-

day newt-free period at the end of the project. The work

ended on October 13.

Newts and their habitats are protected under several laws

although licences are available to remove them.

Story continues

ADVERTISEMENT

An Highways Agency spokesman said: 'Great crested newts

are a protected species. The Highways Agency has a duty to

ensure the newts are moved to the safety of nearby ponds to

avoid them being harmed.

'The cost of these measures is a very small portion of the

overall project budget of 51.41 million.' A statement on the

Agency website also reads: 'The Agency is committed to

providing the taxpayer with value for money by ensuring that

the Agency's business is managed efficiently and effectively.'

But even conservationists have criticised the rescue of so few
http://iccheshireonline.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_headline=-pound-20-800-a-newt-&method=full&objectid=18076327&siteid=50020-name_page.html#story_continuehttp://iccheshireonline.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_headline=-pound-20-800-a-newt-&method=full&objectid=18076327&siteid=50020-name_page.html#story_continuehttp://iccheshireonline.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_headline=-pound-20-800-a-newt-&method=full&objectid=18076327&siteid=50020-name_page.html


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newts.

The Herpetological Conservation Trust's newt officer Dorothy

Wright said: 'Sometimes it would be nice if we could use the

money, which is thousands of pounds, to enhance or create a

really good habitat.

'Their numbers are declining quite badly. Making another

population is much more viable but that's the way the law

works.'

The Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund at Rye Harbour

Castle Water Wetland

During July-September 2003 10ha at Castle Water was improved for

wetland wildlife through an EU LIFE-Nature project Reedbeds for

Bitterns. During July-September 2006 a further 10ha. was improved

through the ALSF project. The work excavated down towards the water

table and deposited the material in deep parts of the adjacent pit to form

islands.

1992 2006Wetland area 25.2ha. 39.0ha.

Number of islands 14 140+

Island area 0.5 8.7

Area of emergents little lots

Length of edge 9,100m. 12,400m.

Area less than 1m deep 1ha. 25ha.

Wetland WildlifeWhen SWT bought Castle Water in 1972 the wetland wildlife was good,

but confined to a few small areas. It was well known for a good range of

rare beetles, including the RDB Spangled Button Beetle, Omophron

limbatum. Initial management was aimed at some of these rare species

and, as we learnt more about the area we embarked on a series of small,

then much larger wetland habitat projects. We now have a complex

wetland with extensive shallows, channels, islands and the populations of

important species are growing. Management will be to encourage the

initial colonisation of emergent vegetation, but trying to prevent thesuccession to willow woodland. In some places we wish to maintain bare


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ground, especially sand at the water margin. For this we are using a mix

of volunteers and goats!

In 2003 we discovered the Lesser Water Plantain growing on a reprofiled

area, the first record for East Sussex for forty years. Those 2 plants havenow increased to hundreds.

Castle Water will have larger populations of Grass Snake, Great Crested

and Smooth Newts (the latest phase of work has created 4 ponds with

newts in mind), Common Toads and Marsh Frogs. Although the latter is

probably responsible for the local demise of the Common Frog, it is also

probably the reason we have a good number of Medicinal Leech.

TheARG UKHerpetofauna Workers MeetingSaturday 27 Sunday 28 January 2007Butts Park Arena, Butts Road,

CoventryAmphibian and Reptile Groups of the United Kingdom www.arg-uk.org.uk

Work on pond has started

AN OVERGROWN Victorian pond will once again become an attractive habitat for

wildlife and plants after being restored by the Woodland Trust.

A digger moved in to Aversley Wood in Sawtry to remove decades of spoil which had

reduced the pond to a fifth of its original size.

The work was made possible by a 10,694 funding from SITA Trust through the

Landfill Communities Fund, which used to be known as the Landfill Tax Credit

Scheme.

Jonathan Plowe, woodland officer, said: "The area is going to look messy for a while

after this work, with bare earth and mud being heaped up around the edges of the

pond.

"I am confident though that next year it will be a different story with a beautiful

expanse of open water and reedbeds around the edges all creating a fantastic newhabitat for newts and other amphibians.


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"It will be a superb additional feature in a wood already renowned locally for its

bluebell displays in spring."

Work began after resident newts left the pond to hibernate over winter. The wood is

open to the public.

Slowworms delay Oaklands Park work

Delays over starting work on an 'unsightly' area of Chichester's Oaklands Park,

criticised by conservationists, were due to slow worms, the district council disclosed

this week. The Chichester Society had called for urgent action by the council over the

Old Nursery site, on the College Lane side of the park, which is planned to become an

ecological area.

In response to the society's criticisms, the council said an ecological study was carriedout on the site before any work could start, and this revealed the presence of a

breeding colony of slow worms. No works could be undertaken until the attending

ecologist could complete a programme to capture and relocate them.

"The work involved commissioning a report from the site ecologist detailing the

method to be used for the safe capture of the reptiles and the construction of the

temporary translocation site," said a council letter.

This work could be carried out only when the slow worms were active late spring

and summer. And this was the main reason for the delay of the project.

Chichester Observer

Veterem in limo ranae cecinere querulam1

If you happen across a pond full of croaking green frogs, listen carefully. Some of

them may be lying.

A croak is how male green frogs tell other frogs how big they are. The bigger themale, the deeper the croak. The sound of a big male is enough to scare off other males

from challenging him for his territory.

While most croaks are honest, some are not. Some small males lower their voices to

make themselves sound bigger. Their big-bodied croaks intimidate frogs that would

beat them in a fair fight.

Carl Zimmer in The New York Times, 26 December 2006.

Books on Reptiles and Amphibians

1 in the mud the frogs croak their immemorial complaint. Virgil (37-30 BC) Georgics.


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The earliest book covering British reptiles and amphibians is A History of British

Reptiles by Thomas Bell, published in 1839. Not only known for his excellent book,

Bell was present at the famous meeting of the Linnean Society in 1858 where Darwin

introduced his theory of evolution. Unfortunately Bell publicly rubbished the theory at

the time!

Bells book was followed by Our Reptiles and Batrachians by M.C. Cook in 1893.

(amphibians were also known as batrachians). This is a lovely book with all the

species illustrated by colour lithographs and woodcuts. G.R. Leightons Life History

of British serpents (1901) and British Lizards (1903) came next, all of these books

are now much sought after by collectors.

The definitive guide to identifying our native species is the Collins Field Guide of

Reptiles and Amphibians of Britain & Europe first published in 1978 but brought up

to date in 2002 to include 26 additional species or sub species, identified mainly due

to advances in DNA techniques. This book is superbly illustrated by Denys Ovendenwho some of you will recall gave a very interesting and amusing talk a few years ago

when SARG hosted the South East Regional HGBI conference.

The other essential book is the New Naturalist (No 87) Amphibians and Reptiles

(2000) written by Richard Griffiths and our own Trevor Beebee from the University

of Sussex. First editions of Trevors book are now very collectable. I saw a copy in a

book shop in Lewes going for 100, not bad when you consider it only cost 34.99

when new six years ago. The paperback edition of this book is now also out of print

but occasionally comes up for sale on E-bay.

The New Naturalist series produced two other editions prior to the current one, first

British Amphibians & Reptiles by Malcolm Smith (No 20) in 1951 and then

Reptiles and Amphibians in Britain (No 69) by Deryk Frazer in 1983. First editions

of both these books can also sell for around 100 in mint condition.

Trevor has also written Frogs and

Toads and Pondlife, both published

by Whittet books as is Tom Langto

Snakes and Lizards. All three books

are very informative and fun to read.

Another excellent source of informationis Amphibians and Reptiles of Surrey

written by Surrey ARG members Julia

Whycherley and Richard Anstis.

ns

There are several very well illustrated

books to look out for, including British

Reptiles and Amphibia by Malcolm

Smith, a forerunner to his New

Naturalist book published by King

Penguin in 1949, Reptiles and

Amphibians,(1924) by A.Nicol Simpson


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and Life in Ponds & Streams (1911) by W. Furneaux.

My copy of Our Reptiles and Batrachians contains a bookplate from the personal

library of Julian Tindale Pym. It is intriguing because the bookplate depicts all the

native reptiles and amphibians and the book itself contains sloughed skins from a

Common lizard and Grass snake as well as handwritten and dated recordings ofreptiles including recordings of Small Red Vipers.

Small Red Vipers were referred to in both Thomas Bells and GR Leightons books as

a separate species, but we now know they are actually just juvenile Adders.

We dont know much about Julian Tindale Pym other than he must have been fairly

wealthy to have his own library, but as the study of reptiles & amphibians was still

relatively new in 1893, he must surely have been one of the first amateur

herpetologists.

Documents

Newts Letter 42 Winter 2006