I hope you have all had a good hibernation and are fully refreshed and ready for an exciting new survey season!

DARN now has a bank account and Paypal operational so if you would like to pay the annual £6 subscription or donate to DARN then this is now possible on

the Home page.

STOP PRESS:

On Sunday 26th April there will be an opportunity to undertake reptile survey training at a joint event with HIWARG (Hampshire and Isle of Wight Amphibian

and Reptile Group) and another partner, in the New Forest. If you are interested in this then email

darn2020@yahoo.com

and further details will be sent out as preparations are finalised. You will need to be a DARN member and have completed the VWA (volunteer worker's

agreement) which you are prompted to do once you join. This is so that you are covered by ARGUK's insurance.

DARN has 9 reptile transects in Ringwood Forest. More survey sites are needed so if you know of an area that needs surveying or a landowner who might

be interested in knowing what reptiles are on their land, then email

darn2020@yahoo.com

with the details. Similarly, email if you know of any churchyards or cemeteries with wildlife areas that may have Slow-worms. This is another area I would like

to develop.

Any spawn or animal sightings can be added on the Home page, Record a sighting, or if you are already an amphibian or reptile surveyor on the on-line

recording page.

Any ideas or questions just email

darn2020@yahoo.com 

I look forward to hearing from you and seeing some of you at the reptile survey training.

Best wishes

Sheila

Chair of DARN

Conservation opportunities for everyone!

Sheila Dyason, Secretary of HIWARG (Hampshire and Isle of Wight Amphibian and Reptile Group) is the new Chair of DARN. Chris has done a fantastic job over many years but he does not currently have the time to take the Group forward but we thank him for all his hard work and luckily he is going to continue as a DARN member.

Sheila lives in Dorset near the Hampshire border and hence her interest in both Groups. She has previously surveyed for reptiles for the Cyril Diver Project and for ARC's New Forest Smooth Snake Project which has now morphed into the Snakes in the Heather Project. She has a GCN licence and a Rare Reptiles licence. This year she will be doing some work with Natterjack Toads at Hengistbury Head. She looks forward to meeting and working with land managers, volunteers, ecologists and other conservationists across Dorset.

From Angela Julian (ARG-UK), 7.10.2013: Dear all   Herefordshire Amphibian and Reptile Team (HART) have kindly offered to organize this year’s ARGUK West Midlands Regional meeting which is to be held at Bromsberrow Village Hall (between Ledbury and Gloucester), on Sunday 17th November. I have attached a flier for this, and would be grateful if you could circulate this as widely as possible amongst your ARG members, and to anyone else that you think might be interested.   The theme of the meeting is ‘Captive breeding & re-introduction of UK reptiles & amphibians’ and, following on from the very successful adder meeting hosted by KRAG two years ago, there will be a strong adder focus. There will be a series of presentations in the morning including an up-date on introductions from Jim Foster, who is Conservation Director at ARC, and more specific case studies on adder, pool frog and sand lizard introductions, as well as the latest findings from some of the adder research programmes, including an up-date on the genetic work conducted by IoZ. This will be followed by an open discussion which aims to explore the many factors surrounding the issue of native herp re-introductions, and finally a short West Midlands ARG round up.   Everyone is welcome (not just West Midlands ARGs), so if you would like to go, please return the attached form to HART’s Chair, Richard King (rking.woodlea@btinternet.com or tel: 01684 541215) to book your place. HART have managed to keep the conference fee down to £12 for the day including lunch.   We would also ask the West Midlands ARGs (Herefordshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Derbyshire, Birmingham) to prepare a short (5 minute) summary of their activities for the final section.   We look forward to seeing many of you there.   With best regards   Angie Julian Secretary ARGUK

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A few further herpy things to mention:

1)      ToadSize - Following my earlier email, I received the email below (with attached ToadSize recording sheet) from Angie Julian at ‘ARG-UK HQ’. Seems like toad migrations are happening in earnest all over the country this week, and there’s a big publicity push on to get people measuring their local toads for this ToadSize project.

2)      GCN training -  Several people have asked me if they could either shadow me on great crested newt surveys, or attend survey training locally. Well I’ve buckled under the pressure, and have decided to organise a one-off GCN/amphibian survey training evening next Tuesday 23 April, venue tbc. I expect it will start early evening, perhaps with a daylight egg search and netting visit around 7-8pm, and continue later with a torchlight survey about 10-11pm. Ideally the two sessions would be punctuated with a sojourn in a local establishment for pub grub and a pint, while waiting for it to get dark. I would demonstrate bottle-trapping, but won’t be setting any (unless a licensed DARNer fancied emptying them in the morning?). I will email this list again, hopefully tomorrow evening, once I have firmed up on a pond venue for the event. It is likely to be in the Purbeck or Winterbournes area. Please let me know if you plan to attend (and/or want to help). I think this might be a good opportunity for any NARRS volunteers wishing to receive training.

3)      NARRS – Now is the time to sign up for your random (within 5km of your home) 1km survey square. Contact andy.arnell@arc-trust.org or john.wilkinson@arc-trust.org. If you would like to take part, but feel you lack the skills, drop me a line. It only takes a few hours of your time to do a NARRS survey, and often you are filling in a gap on the known distribution map.

Cheers for now,

Chris Gleed-Owen

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NARRS - The herp survey season is upon us. For those of you already taking part in NARRS amphibian and reptile surveys, you’ll be aware that this year is a really important big push to get as many squares surveyed as possible, as it is the last of the current six-year survey cycle. If you’re not already involved, please contact Ben Limburn at ARC (ben.limburn@arc-trust.org) to register. It’s quite simple, and you only need a couple of hours here and there to take part. DARN members can help show anyone the ropes if needed.

Make The Adder Count – After a very mild winter, and despite a severe cold snap, the adders are out and about already this year. If anyone has an adder site they know about and would like to monitor as part of ‘Make The Adder Count’, contact DARN, and we will help you get set up to do that.

The Big Pond Dip Survey – Rosie Salazar at WildCRU, University of Oxford, is looking for volunteers to take part in a pond survey initiative. It can be carried out alongside a NARRS pond survey. Contact Rosie (rosie.salazar@zoo.ox.ac.uk) to get involved.

Sopley Common adders – Jonathan Crewe is gathering volunteers for a one-off ‘adder-blitz’ at Sopley common soon, to try and identify the hibernation areas. Please contact Jon (crewie3@btinternet.com) to assist.

As ever, pass on any herp-related news or requests to DARN for circulation .

Cheers,

Chris Gleed-Owen, Dorset Amphibian & Reptile Network