About ten days ago, a toad was discovered in Devon with leeches completely covering both eyes and a few attached to it's limb joints. A photo was posted on ARG UK's Facebook discussion group asking for advice, but nobody had seen anything similar. A few of the forum members started investigating and Steve Allain discovered a similar photo posted on an RSPB forum, which had been taken on the Isle of Wight eight years ago. A natural history note reporting on leeches in Tunisia, showed remarkable similarities with the feeding behaviour. This prompted HIWARG to follow this up with the Non Native Species Secretariat, ARC, ARG UK and Garden Wildlife Health (who investigate wildlife disease etc). Samples were collected of the Devon leech and were sent off for identification, which we are waiting for currently.

As the 2012 sighting was in HIWARG's area, we posted the story on HIWARG and DARN's FB page, along with a couple of other local FB pages in the hope the groups would do their thing and spread the news... We didn't think it would work so quickly, but in less than 24 hours we were tagged in two photos from the Isle of Wight, which showed two frogs covered in leeches. One of the frogs had been caught and kept in captivity and samples of leeches were collected to send off to GWH. Unfortunately, the frog died a couple of days ago so will be sent to GWH for post-mortem.

We don't know if this is an unrecorded behaviour of a native leech or a new non-native species of leech, but hopefully we will get a confirmed identification soon. HIWARG has also teamed up with IoW organisations to identify locations of these leeches. We will update this story as we get further news.

A sad but very intriguing case. #Scienceinaction.

If you find any similar cases, please contact us via our Facebook group if possible as we will be able to respond to this much faster, if you are not a Facebook user, please email us at info@hiwarg.org.uk

HIWARG's Facebook group can be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/455730808110700/

Please be advised that in accordance with the Govt requested virus limiting actions and in the interests of our members, their friends, families and the public in general we are postponing our HIWARG "group" activities until further notice.
This is inline with the decisions taken by a wide range of volunteer reliant organisations, trusts, councils etc. Fortunately many of our activities such as surveys etc. are geared around being individual activities, so I’m sure we will still see posts on the group as some folks may still undertake solo surveys, nature walks etc. and share photo’s & details of these.
Fresh air, sunlight & maintaining activity levels remain healthy activities where & while possible and the outdoors and nature are valuable stress relief measures.

We are wishing everyone the very best through these troubling times and for those who might be infected, we hope you experience a very speedy recovery.

Looking forward to catching up with you all again at the end of the social distancing period.

Stay safe and and healthy.

Regards

The HIWARG Panel

Just a reminder about the habitat management event on Saturday 8 Feb from 10.00 – 14.00.
The meeting place is:
Drove End FE Car Park
Harbridge Drove
BH243PX
Coming from Ringwood direction, continue along Harbridge Drove until you see the Alderholt village sign. Car park is on the left.
A continuation of the scrub clearance in Ringwood Forest clearing saplings and thinning gorse from the track verges.
Please bring boots, warm clothes, something to drink, lunch and gloves, loppers, bow saw, if you have them.
I’ll be travelling down from Basingstoke, so if anyone would like a lift, please let me know. 2 seats available. 😊

Toad crossing patrols have already been quite active and we are expecting them to get even busier over the next few weeks with the weather looking wetter over the next week. Folks are welcome to join the regular patrollers. It’s a very rewarding and quite sociable affair.
There is bound to be a crossing near to you.

We are also looking for some folks to help in Hook on 19^th Feb at an Animal & Wildlife Half Term Fun Day. 10.00 – 17.00 (That includes set up & break down)
Any help appreciated, even if only for a few hours. Help enthuse a load of kids about the local herpetofauna in their area.
Location:
Hook Community Centre
Ravenscroft
RG279NN


We are going to be looking for many more reptile transect surveyors this coming season & I’ll be planning some training days soon and announcing them.
These will in incorporate some “class” sessions before & after a field session thereby providing coverage of both the Member’s Portal survey section and field craft.
Surveyors need to have a GPS or app installed on their phone. It seems the best app for use at the moment is View Ranger.
I can certainly help wrt GPS, but suggest if you are interested in surveying & using the app, that you have the app set up before the training sessions and some idea about how to use it as trying to do this on the day takes up too much time.
Once the training is completed I will activate surveyor’s “Reptile surveyor” access & you’ll have dozens of transects available across the county to survey & hone your skills.
This is open to experienced and new folk as the process is designed to be simple & help you gain valuable surveying skills in you own time with help available if needed.
And of course, there is a bit of friendly competition to see you can log the most records 😊

Please remember to keep an eye on our Facebook group. Just type HIWARG into your Facebook.  
We love getting updates & photo’s of the various Hants & IoW herp conservation things that you are up to.

Edited by Sheila Dyason

Happy New Year!!!

I hope that at the top of your New Year’s Resolution list this year is to get more involved with HIWARG activities. There will be habitat management, surveys, toad patrols, training opportunities and much more.

In December

Sheila Dyason: 7^th December.
Attended an excellent Venom Day talks at Bangor. Thank you to all the organisers. The Students were fantastic as usual!
Venomous mammals, fish, insects, amphibians and reptiles.
Carol Trim's talk - Venom: kill or cure - highlighted research into venoms that can target cancer cells and inhibit the spread of cancer.

Pete West: 8^th December
Waiting to start the Christmas tree cutting conservation task at Yateley Common with Hampshire Countryside

Pete West: 21^st December
Opened an early Xmas pressie from my daughter and her husband as they are flying abroad for Xmas Day. A bucket of chocolate toads, complete with road sign

Sheila Dyason: 23^rd December
Just finished the large frog for the top of the tree.

Pete Gillatt: 24^th December
Just stepped outside and found Pond Frog poking his head out to wish everyone a wonderfully merry Christmas.

There's loads for us to do in the coming season.
Looking forward to seeing you all at a toad patrol in your neighbourhood soon. Don't forget, frog spawning season will be upon us soon too and we need all the sightings logged so we can track trends and locations.
Who will find & record the first spawn of the season? Will anyone be able to find some before Paul?
The challenge is real!!!

Pete Gillatt: 31^st December

In January

Pete Gillatt: 1^st January
Warm sun, dry ground... would have been poor form not to visit a few local hibernacula in the hopes of a New Year adder ;-) At least the newts were heaving in the ponds.

Jayne Chapman: 2^nd January
A few pics taken today by my son in the cellar of the pub where he works. He sees them every day scuttling between the beer barrels.

Pete West: 9^th January
Visited three toad crossings and stopped off at a couple of ponds tonight. No toads, but one pond had quite a few palmate and smooth newts, including the one in the pics, and the other pond had just one smooth newt.

Pete Gillatt: 12^th January – Clearing Toad Tunnels
Thanks so much to all the folk who came along today to the toad tunnel preparation event. What a super turnout. Everyone literally “mucked” in and made such a difference.
This crossing has had zero maintenance for many years now & we found the tunnels themselves were completely blocked and took a huge about of effort to unblock & open them using drain cleaners, bucket loads of water & loads of ingenuity.

Pete West: 12^th January
Adder sighting today in Dorset. Guess we need to get as many people out surveying as much as possible. So many early sightings the last couple of weeks.
Nick Dobbs‎ to UK Amphibian and Reptile Groups Discussion Forum
12 January at 15:02
SQUARE SCALE BEATS HIS OWN RECORD
Alpha male adder - Square Scale has broken his own earliest out and about record on my primary research site here in Dorset. None of the other males in this hibernaculum were out. Today 12-01-20
Cheers
Nick

Sheila Dyason: 14^th January
Toad alert!
26 toads helped across the road last night at Gorley Road, Ringwood!

Pete West: 14^th January
First toad (and the only one tonight) at Wildmoor. Also crossing were two frogs, a muntjac and a weasel... although the muntjac and weasel refused to let me put them in my bucket. Ungrateful.

Paul Edgar:
And we're off in Hampshire again. Found my first frog spawn of 2020 today (11 clumps) in exactly the same New Forest pool they start in every year. They always spawn here on 15th January, although they did once break tradition and spawn on 16th January. Mind you that was following a leap year! There'll be a gap now as the rest of the local frogs don't usually start spawning until 4th February, even in pools and ditches within 50m of this one. No idea why - perhaps someone once introduced some Scottish tadpoles to this pool and their descendants find it a bit too warm down here in February!

Pete Gillatt: 18^th January
Decidedly cold & frosty start to the day which soon warmed up once the sun broke through allowing us to enjoy the time spent clearing a few 100m of heathery woodland edge bank of assorted scrub at Drove End in Ringwood Forest. Treated to two Kingfishers hunting in the small pool below them.
Thanks to Pete and Tim for your help at Drove End today. A good start was made on one side of the track. Hope to do another session in February.

Sheila Dyason: 21st January
Gwiber has slithered to the Hawthorns, Southampton Common. Quite a trek from Basingstoke. Causing quite a stir and loved by all!
Pete Gillatt: Looks awesome. Well done to Ian's jigsaw skills. It really is more visible than I thought it would be. That'll certainly draw attention :-)
Sam Langdon: Ah so wonderful to see Gwiber again!! 

Josh Phangurha 25^th January
I recently went out to Romsey with the Test Valley Council to set up a refugia transect. There are 4 of these lovely ponds, all of which are home to great crested newts and there have been grass snakes seen swimming across them. To my and the council's knowledge, Adders have not yet been recorded here. Hopefully we can change that this year.
I'll be heading to Hedge End next week to set up another transect where grass snakes are known to occur, but haven't been seen in two years. I'm hoping HIWARG will rediscover them this season!

Pete Gillatt 25^th January
Long HIWARG day. Started on-site at 10.00 this morning laying out transects and doing habitat management and got home at 20.00 after wrapping up the daylight activities with a supper meeting discussing some interesting prospects for the upcoming season with one of our partners.

Pete Gillatt 26^th January
Lovely session out today with Hampshire Countryside Services teamed up with some of the local Yateley volunteers clearing a large chunk of gorse, bramble & birch. Lovely sociable event and some super conversation about Hants historic herp site.

Pete West 26^th January
A few more toads on the move tonight. Checked out the registered Wildmoor Lane crossing and also two possible crossings at Rotherwick and Hook Common tonight. Toads at all three... I might just be a tad stretched when they move in numbers.
Good news at Wildmoor, 4 toads and one frog were seen tonight, but all were crossing a golf course access road to a pond on the course rather than crossing Wildmoor Lane. Hopefully this will mean a little pressure off on this crossing.
Rotherwick we are still monitoring as it is just a hunch they are crossing here after I found a huge breeding pond nearby last year... only one crossing tonight though. This could potentially be a high priority crossing as it is a commuter rat run at rush hour.
Last off, we found a big momma toad crossing a narrow lane leading to a council depot. This was a very busy toad spot up until 5 years ago according to the depot staff, but many toads were killed crossing every year. We will keep an eye on it this year.
If you are a member and want to help, log in to your portal on our website and update your volunteer preferences, or anyone can comment below and we'll add you to the contact list... no need to be a paid up member.

As always, our core communication methods remains via the HIWARG Facebook Group & the HIWARG website. I encourage you if you have not yet done so to please bookmark & visit both for the latest news & events information.
And if you have not yet don’t so, please subscribe to HIWARG as a member via the website. Your subscription donation helps us acquire much needed equipment for use during our planned activities and will help to broaden the range of activities & events we can offer.


Final note – please keep up any herp related activities, get out onto the heathlands & commons, spend time outdoors and keep looking for animals & logging those records.

Edited by Sheila Dyason
Sorry for the long delay in sending out our latest newsletter. The survey season has been very busy with more than 40 survey transects now in place, so there is no excuse for not being able to survey a site near to you!

In April my daughter Cathy and I went to Millom, Cumbria to learn about surveying for Natterjack Toads. The course was run by ARC’s Yvette Martin and Ruth Popely. It was a fantastic and very enjoyable experience. We spent the afternoon indoors learning about Natterjack ecology, conservation and the law. Ruth had collected some toads so we could see them close-up...... (Subscribe to see more)

Meanwhile in Hampshire, Graeme Davis found these lizards near Brockenhurst and Pete West found this lovely Grass Snake at Fleet Pond...... (Subscribe to see more)

Pete West found a few Palmate Newts in a series of ponds on a local Hampshire Heath. He thinks it is amazing how any larva survive...... (Subscribe to see more)

......the Vanishing Viper conference was a really fantastic experience with some very interesting perspectives from European colleagues. It was great to catch up with so many people dedicated to finding solutions. (Subscribe to see more)

Gillian Pullinger took some photos from the Bioblitz event at Basing Wood. HIWARG had their stand there, showing the animals to members of the public and raising funds with exciting items for sale, and also helped with walks and pond-dipping activities.... (Subscribe to see more)

In September the saga of Wally the turtle began.  Pete West tells the story....Apparently, the Egret became very interested in some ripples close to the water’s edge. As the ripples came closer to the shore my brother could see a small shape above the water and a creature emerged showing itself to be a turtle or terrapin.... (Subscribe to see more)

HIWARG members have attended village fetes and shows over the summer to give members of the public the opportunity to see herps close-up and to learn about their conservation needs. It is hoped that next year more members will volunteer to participate with these events.


Jon Cranfield gave a talk on American Bullfrogs and African Clawed Toads at the Invasive Non-native Species Workshop at Brockenhurst. It was a very good talk and well-received.


Adders on the brink – Britain’s Vanishing Viper - Josh Phangurha
It’s hard to describe in words the concoction of thoughts and feelings that adders resonate through me. Their admirable ability to emerge on chilly days in February (or sometimes earlier), even if there is snow on the ground and temperatures are near 0°C,  give a true sense of extraordinary hardiness in the ectothermic animal kingdom. Their exquisite markings rival the intricacy of any British bird or butterfly, which is especially evident in the males who can boast bright silvery colouration with a highly contrasting, dorsal black zigzag that runs along the length of the body. As if that wasn’t dashing enough, their eyes are a piercing crimson red, giving them a somewhat falsely menacing appearance..... (Subscribe to see more)

Future events
* HIWARG Social and AGM Saturday November 23^rd 1 – 4 pm at Twyford Village Hall
Please join us for the HIWARG 2019 Year-end social. TICKET BOOKINGS:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/2019-year-end-social-agm-tickets-72908809211

The afternoon is certain to be a special networking event providing an update on the last year's activities as well as details on our plans for the 2020 season. Tea, coffee & cakes will be provided.
We also have special speakers presenting on some unusual & interesting topics:
- Steve Allain on his Midwife Toad Project
- Josh Phangurha on his trip to Mexico and encouraging new HIWARG members

Attendance is free, but we do ask that you register in order for us to plan & cater appropriately.
Ticket numbers are limited so please be sure to book your ticket soon via Eventbrite.

Habitat Management
Herp habitat management with a range of land managers at various sites. For more details see https://www.facebook.com/groups/455730808110700/ 

As always, our core communication methods remains via the HIWARG Facebook Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/455730808110700/ ) & the HIWARG website. I encourage you if you have not yet done so to please bookmark & visit both for the latest news & events information.

And if you have not yet don’t so, please subscribe to HIWARG as a member via this website. Your subscription donation helps us acquire much needed equipment for use during our planned activities and will help to broaden the range of activities & events we can offer.