Hampshire And Isle of Wight Amphibian and Reptile Group (HIWARG)

About us

About Us

Hampshire is fortunate that the county covers a huge geographic area and a very diverse breadth of habitat including: the Isle of Wight, the New Forest National Park, the South Downs National Park, as well as many other unspoiled areas, including Woolmer Forest.
It is therefore unsurprising that we are host to 12 out of the 13 native amphibians and reptiles in UK, including rarities such as the Natterjack Toad, Sand Lizard and Smooth Snake, and wherever you live in the county there will be opportunities to survey and monitor an assemblage of amphibian and reptile species.

HIWARG formed in the Autumn of 2018 and is an affiliated independent ARG-UK group. The group focus is conservation of native UK species essentially around habitat management, surveying, public engagement, volunteer training & doing as much as possible to understand & protect the native species in the county.
All members are volunteers with a common interest.

If you have some spare time and would like to be involved with HIWARG, maybe you have taken a photo of a reptile or amphibian and would like it identified or maybe you have some other query, then please do get in contact info@hiwarg.org.uk

CONSERVATION THROUGH EMPATHY BY ENGAGEMENT

Visit HIWARG's Redbubble Shop to support our work www.redbubble.com/people/HIWARG/shop

News

HIWARG Newsletter No.1

Posted on Saturday 17th November, 2018

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Hello & welcome to all our new members.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight ARG (HIWARG) covers one of the most diverse herpetological counties in Britain, with a breadth of species right on our doorstep, including all of the widespread amphibians and reptiles and many of our rarer species, with sand lizards, natterjacks and smooth snakes. Alongside this, the group has a rich history with many great initiatives to build on.

Just over a year ago a small group decided to revitalise the ARG. This resulted in a very successful meeting at Marwell Zoo in Nov 2017, with over 100 people attending. By the end of the afternoon we had a number of ideas for the new look HIWARG. One of these was to increase social media visibility and the new Facebook group soon had over 150 followers. Looking through the posts & comments I am pleased to see a number of regular commentators – and more are always welcome.

Although changing personal circumstances and a busy 2018 field season have slowed things a little, we remain committed to building an active and successful group. The good news is that we are now ready to roll, and with an effective data protection compliant membership system now in place, a range of online recording tools and the recent boost in official members, we are ready to take on the challenges of an exciting and active 2019 herp season. In 2019 we hope to: increase our volunteer survey coverage across all species; undertake practical habitat management; run training days, attend events and public outreach days; work with students and other up and coming herpetologists, who will benefit from the mentoring and support our more experienced members can offer; and participate in local and national projects. One exciting new opportunity is a partnership with Ben Limburn of ARC, on their new Snakes in the Heather project (SitH).

Members' Welcome Meeting
We will also be holding a special members’ social gathering on Saturday 17^th November 2018, between 14.30 – 16.30 at the Twyford Parish Hall, just south of Winchester:

Twyford Parish Hall, Hazeley Road, Twyford, WINCHESTER, SO21 1QY

The venue itself is less than a mile from Shawford Station for ease of access, and refreshments and cake will be served, to keep the energy flowing!

The focus of the afternoon will be on you, the HIWARG members, and what we can do as a group to support herp conservation in our county.

To encourage this we will have a varied programme for the afternoon, demonstrating the new options for survey and recording, as well an interactive workshop to determine what you as the members would like to see from the group and to help us to develop our 2019 programme.

For the future, we would like you to spread the word - sharing news and information and generally increasing the visibility of the herp conservation message around Hants and IoW. The vision for the group is one of inclusiveness, engaging with and involving as many people as we can reach and making herp conservation an exciting thing to be part of.

At present we are just a small group – and we really would love to see as many of you there as possible, so please let us know if you can make it by RSVP to chair@hampshire-arg.org.uk.

With kindest regards

Pete Gillatt, Chair, HIWARG

Newsletter has gone out.

Posted on Tuesday 23rd October, 2018

Subscribed members should all have received their copy of the new newsletter. It covers some exciting prospects.
Be sure to respond ASAP.
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News flash.

Posted on Wednesday 17th October, 2018

Significant updates to this website including easier access to the members portal and some useful links in place.
Remember to keep logging your late season sightings.

HIWARG Re-Launch

Posted on Wednesday 28th June, 2017

On Saturday 3rd of June, a meeting was held at the Golden Lion in Winchester to discuss the future of the what was previously known as Hampshire Amphibian and Reptile Group.

We are delighted that the group will now be relauching under the new name of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Amphibian and Reptile Group (HIWARG).

To help steer the group through it's infancy, Paul Edgar will be serving as acting Chair, Rebecca Harvey as acting Treasurer and Harry Hornsby as acting Secretary.

We are excited to help move forward in a positve manor and several events are already being planned. Keep your eyes on this space!

Amphibians and Reptiles in Hampshire: The HARG 2012 Annual Report

Posted on Thursday 4th May, 2017

Welcome to the 2012 HARG Herpetofauna Report!HARG_Annual_Report_2012.pdf

I am delighted to say our recording effort is steadily increasing – this is great news but we still need your help! Remember, your record of a frog in your garden may fill an empty 1km square or update an old record. One of the highlights in 2012 was that we hosted the annual ARG UK SE Regional Meeting at Marwell with the theme of ‘Best Practice; legislation, survey & mitigation’. This was obviously a popular topic as it was attended by over 90 delegates from all aspects of herpetology. As development pressure increases, it is increasingly up to each of us to protect what we can despite living under “the greenest government ever”.

We live in uncertain times with regard to the economy and the environment and we hope the conference stirred some positive support for herptiles on a national level. Continuing the positive note, field events were well-attended (by both people and herptiles) as well as our Species Groups social in Winchester [isn’t there a saying about ‘as drunk as a newt’? Eds]. Shatterford Bottom, in the heart of the New Forest, was a fantastic venue for a summer evening walk listening to the raucous Marsh Frog, churring Nightjars, drumming Snipe and other nocturnal wildlife. On our trip to Boscombe, all participants were rewarded with stunning views of both Green and Wall Lizards. Remember HARG is always looking for members with even just a small amount of time to help run events, meetings and organise surveys. So if you’d like to get involved in some small way please get in touch.

We look forward to hearing from you!

John Poland HARG Chair