Derbyshire Amphibian and Reptile Group
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About us

About Us

Welcome to Derbyshire Amphibian and Reptile Group we cover the whole of Derbyshire including part of the Peak District National Park.

Our group aims to promote the study and conservation of the amphibians and reptiles of Derbyshire and their habitats. We achieve this by:

  • raising awareness of the ecology and conservation needs of Derbyshire's amphibians and reptiles
  • undertaking practical conservation projects
  • running approximately 20 Toads on Road patrols at locations across the county every spring during the toad migration season
  • carrying out regular reptile surveys and amphibian surveys
  • organising amphibian and reptile training sessions for members and the public
  • providing advice and information and answering queries for the public
  • developing recording, monitoring and research intitatives
  • providing a forum for those interested in amphibians and reptiles
  • working in partnership with other relevant organisations

We hope our website will help you to find the information you are looking for, but if you still have a query, please contact us and we will do our best to help.

Derbyshire ARG always welcome new members to the group, please email us on derbyshirearg@gmail.com to join. There is a membership subscription of £5 per year, though that is reviewed at every AGM..

We are very grateful for any records of amphibians and reptiles in your local area that you can pass to us as it helps in mapping the distribution of species and protecting their known habitats. Either contact us directly or use the Record a sighting tab on this website.

The group is run by a committee which is elected at the AGM each year. For 2021 - 2022 the committee elected at the AGM on 10th November 2021 are:

Chair - Kelvin Lawrence, Vice Chair - Christian Murray-Leslie, Secretary - Chris Monk, Treasurer - Jayne Thompson
Committee members - Garry Dorrell, Richard Fenn Griffin, James Longley, Sheila Stubbs, Trevor Taylor and Ben Wyke

Kelvin Lawrence is also the Derbyshire Toad Crossings Co-ordinator for the Group & for Froglife and Richard Fenn Griffen moderates our Facebook page

See a previous newsletters here

 pdfJanuary_2021_DARG_newsletter_31.pdf

pdfAugust_2020_DerbyshireARG_newsletter.pdf

pdfFebruary_2020_DARG_Events_newsletter.pdf

pdfDARG_April_2019_newsletter.pdf

pdfDARG_January_2019_newsletter.pdf

 

Derbyshire ARG data policy

pdfDARG_data_protection_policy_November_2018.pdf

 

News

News

New Facebook site

Posted on Thursday 7th October, 2021

Today we have launced our new Facebook site to replace the previous with new administrators so hopefully it will remain up to date with what we are doing.www.facebook.com/Derbyshire-Amphibian-and-Reptile-Group-DARG-101964412268342


Stanage and North Lees Reptile Survey

Posted on Sunday 26th September, 2021

Planning for next spring's reptile survey of the North Lees & Stanage estate for the Stanage Forum is proceeding with the first of two walkovers to decide routes for transects and possible cover object surveys completed today. In addition we have some records from a DARG member who went for a family walk in August and spotted more lizards in that than the total number of recorded sightings in the last twenty years as put on RecordPool, iRecord & NBN Atlas. There is the possibility that there may be a very small adder population still present based on the very occasional sightings by members of the public over the last 15 years. We hope to get permission to put cover objects out to see if we can find any slow-worms on the area.

Four juvenile and three adult lizards were spotted today by the team of 6 DARG surveyors after the sun came out and the wind had eased. An initial assessment of possible routes off the main paths where drawn up by the Chair & Secretary. Although a busy area with many walkers, rock climbers and mountain bike riders off the path here may ring ouzels & other ground nesting birds of conservation concern so final routes will need to be agreed with the Peak Park ecologists. It is planned to use ARGWEB for the recording of the surveys. We just hope now that there will be sufficient snow and wind over winter to flatten significant areas of the waist high bracken fronds from this year so that visibility for the surveys next spring is improved, before the bracken regrows in late spring.

P20210926 12.49 Lizard on wall


DARG Activities 2021 Update

Posted on Friday 9th July, 2021

Having managed earlier in the year to carry out our regular toad crossing patrols and to do several torchlight surveys for newts in restored or existing dewponds in the Peak District National Park, we are planning to do some reptile work in the late summer/autumn.

We have refreshed our cover objects on our reptile survey site near Hassop in the Peak District so a couple of survey visits are planned for there in August and September depending on weather conditions.

The Group has been asked to carry out a reptile survey next year, mainly for common lizard, by the Stanage Forum to help inform their revision of the the management plans for the Stanage and North Lees areas on the borders with Sheffield in the Peak District National Park. Despite it's popularity with walkers and rock climbers there have been very few reptile records from there in the past couple of decades. Hopefully the survey will find common lizard, possibly slow-worm and maybe even a snake or two. Therefore we are organising a couple of walk-overs in the autumn to look at the areas, possibly spot some reptiles and decide on setting out some transects and a few cover object survey sites for next spring.

We have also reserved a place at the Derbyshire County Council's Countryside Service Woodland Festival in September. Held annually (except last year due to Covid-19) it is very popular and is at the usual venue of Elvaston Castle County Park just outside Derby. Deppending on what happens with the Covid-19 pandemic by September we will let you know nearer the date if we are taking our stall and display there this year.


DARG Activities 2021

Posted on Monday 22nd February, 2021

Derbyshire ARG will be deciding at its next committee meeeting at the end of February on what activities can be organised this year depending on Government guidance and regulation relating to the Covid-19 pandemic


All events this summer cancelled

Posted on Saturday 16th May, 2020

With the news that the Derbyshire Woodland Festival in late September will not now go ahead all our public engagement events across Derbyshire this summer have been cancelled due to the restrictions around the coronavirus pandemic. At the present time all other group activities such as surveys are suspended until such time as restrictions are amended and group gatherings of people in the open are allowed.


Events

Events

Show Past Events

Peak District pond surveys

Sat 1st April, 2023 - Fri 9th June, 2023

As in all years since 2005, excepting the Covid lockdown in 2020, we will again be carrying out pond surveys across the White Peak area of the Peak District National Park this spring. Mostly monitoring the amphibian colonisation of dewponds restored by the National Park Authority's, National Trust, Plantlife and others. Mostly we will be carrying out torchlight surveys for newts but there will also be some bottle trapping and GCN eDNA water sampling.

2022 11 12 High Fields SSSI field concrete dewpond repair

Members/volunteers who would like to assist please contact us at derbyshirearg@gmail.com


Reptile Surveys

Sat 17th June, 2023 - Sat 30th September, 2023

We will be running a servies of reptile surveys at our reptile monitoring sites in and around the Peak District in the north eastern part of the County.

Depending on weather conditions we plan to run a survey trip every other week during the period at the Stanage & North Lees Estate in the Dark Peak, Linacre Reservoirs near Chesterfield and Hassop Common in the White Peak

Contact us if you want to join in

.2022 09 10 1336 Other male returned to under cover object


Derbyshire Woodland Festival

Sat 16th September, 2023 - Sun 17th September, 2023

A bit early but dates have already been fixed by Derbyshire County Council for next year's festival at it's usual venue in Elvaston Castle Country Park, near Derby. We will probably have a stand there as we have done most years since 2011.


Contact us

Contact Us

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Or contact the secretary at:
DerbyshireARG
Hilburn, Chapel Lane,
Middleton,
Matlock,
Derbyshire
DE4 4NF

For Toad Crossings and to contact our Derbyshire Toad Crossings Co-ordinator please email derbyshirearg.toads@gmail.com

Upcoming Events


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