DARN Dispatches 14

It is hard to believe that we are halfway through Summer. I don’t want a heatwave but some settled warm weather would be good and if the grass could just stop growing for a bit so we can find the refugia that would be great as well!

We welcome two new active reptile surveyors – one in Verwood and one in Purbeck. They are already sending in survey results which is great. Thank you both. We also have connections with a school which I have visited and their pond is teeming with wildlife particularly Frogs and Smooth and Palmate Newts. Grass Snakes and Toads have also been seen. So I am looking forward to seeing and hearing more from there. All very exciting.

Thank you also to existing surveyors and to those of you who send in records occasionally. Every record counts towards a better understanding of the location of Dorset’s amphibians and reptiles and the habitat that needs protecting.

On the subject of habitats, Forestry England have just confirmed that we can continue with the habitat management in Ringwood Forest and Hurn Forest over the Autumn and Winter. We shall be continuing with the four sites from last year plus others to be confirmed. DARN started a new research project last year to investigate if there was a better way for our volunteers to control Birch on our heathland sites. This has been extended to look at controlling Bracken as well. Some work has been on-going over the summer and thanks to Cathy for her help with this.

The SliC sites – Slow-worms in Churchyards – continue to produce results. Thank you to all the Land Managers that we work with for allowing us to survey on your land.

Allotments are still being surveyed and a Grass Snake has recently been spotted at one of them along with the Slow-worms and Toads.

A new transect is about to be set up as a rare reptile site and this will also involve habitat management at some point. I have not seen the site yet but I am waiting to hear from the Wildlife Ranger.

Other DARN projects are FARM – Farming with Amphibians and Reptiles in Mind – where landowners are wilding their fields and woods. One site has not recorded any reptiles yet but I have found two Dormouse nests which Cathy and I survey for under our Dormouse licences.

We are continuing to monitor the Wall Lizards at various sites with our NISER project – Non-native and Invasive Species, Escapees and Releases. They appear to be colonising garden further inland. Whether that is because of an increase in numbers or due to disturbance we do not yet know. There is evidence that some of the holes in the walls where they are regularly seen have been made larger as if someone has been trying to capture them.

My garden pond continues to be home to Frogs and Palmate Newts. The baby Frogs have just started to leave the water. Three Toads have also been seen and one has been under a tile for weeks. It has made a Toad print in the grass so it has obviously found a spot that is just right and it is not moving anywhere else. I have seen two of this year’s juvenile Slow-worms. They have been found with last years juveniles and adults as well. We have a population of 14+ Slow-worms. If anyone else has a garden pond or reptiles in their gardens I would love to hear from you.

It was good to see reptiles being featured on Springwatch recently.  It was being broadcast from Arne and it highlighted the number of reptiles being eaten by raptors. Particularly gruesome was the female Sand Lizard whose eggs were being plucked out of the decapitated body and fed to young Kestrels, I think. Confirmation of the Wall Lizards at Corfe Castle was also interesting as I have not seen them there yet.

As I have said in previous Dispatches, if you are interested in becoming a DARN reptile surveyor, email me and we will arrange for ARGWEB and field survey training if it is needed and then you will be given access to our widespread transect sites.

As usual casual sightings of amphibians and reptiles can be added to Casual Sightings on the DARN website: www.groups.arguk.org/darn  or on Record Pool: www.recordpool.org.uk or email the details to: sheiladyason2007@yahoo.co.uk. Historic records are fine as well. If you are not sure just email or message me.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Keep safe!

Sheila Dyason

Chair of DARN

Conservation opportunities for everyone!

DARN Dispatches 13

Spring has finally come, and I am looking forward to some warm, settled weather.

Habitat management, over the autumn and winter, was a great success although more could have been achieved with more volunteers. Ringwood Forest and Hurn Forest were the two main areas we focused on. DARN started its new research project to investigate if there is a better way for our volunteers to control Birch on our heathland sites. Thank you to all the volunteers from DARN and HIWARG who participated.

DARN also helped Freshwater Habitats Trust with some water sampling in Ringwood and Hurn Forests and I am very pleased to say that the phosphate and nitrate levels were very low indicating unpolluted water.

#darnspawnandeggcount2023 was designed for people to report their frog spawn and newt sighting but it was mainly my garden ponds that were recorded. A maximum of 69 Palmate Newts were seen and 15 spawn clumps. The tadpoles have now emerged, and the water is bubbling with activity.

#darngardenslowworms2023 has just started and anyone can report their garden sightings. So far, I have three juvenile Slow-worms from last year, two adult males and an adult female in my garden under felt and roofing tiles.

Last weekend Tina led a training session on her favourite site for a new surveyor and we saw 65 reptiles including all three lizard species and Adders. A special thank you to Tina for sharing her knowledge and reptile surveying skills.

Other DARN projects are FARM – Farming with Amphibians and Reptiles in Mind – where landowners are wilding their fields and woods; and CAMPAR – CAMPsites with Amphibians and Reptiles – which will add a new dimension to staycation holidays this year.

We are continuing to monitor the Wall Lizards at various sites with our NISER project – Non-native and Invasive Species, Escapees and Releases.

The SliC project – Slow-worms in Churchyards - is also ongoing as is our Allotment project.

As I have said in previous Dispatches, if you are interested in becoming a DARN reptile surveyor, email me and we will arrange for ARGWEB and field survey training if it is needed and then you will be given access to our widespread transect sites.

As usual casual sightings of amphibians and reptiles can be added to Casual Sightings on the DARN website: www.groups.arguk.org/darn  or on Record Pool: www.recordpool.org.uk or email the details to: sheiladyason2007@yahoo.co.uk. Historic records are fine as well. If you are not sure just email or message me.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Keep safe!

Sheila Dyason

Chair of DARN

Conservation opportunities for everyone!

DARN Dispatches 12

I hope you have all had a busy summer surveying and submitting lots of records on ARGWEB and Record Pool. Our GIS map is certainly becoming a multi-coloured patchwork of dots and diamonds.

Habitat management has just started with DARN undertaking a new research project to investigate if there is a better way for our volunteers to control Birch on our heathland sites.

Other new projects are FARM – Farming with Amphibians and Reptiles in Mind – where landowners are wilding their fields and woods; and CAMPAR – CAMPsites with Amphibians and Reptiles – which will add a new dimension to staycation holidays next year.

We are continuing to monitor the Wall Lizards at various sites with our NISER project – Non-native and Invasive Species, Escapees and Releases.

The SliC project – Slow-worms in Churchyards - is also ongoing as is our Allotment project.

David, our foreign correspondent in Greece, continues to send us wonderful photos of reptile sightings from his back garden and beyond and he is now trying to entice our surveyors to join him snake hunting.

We have just held another Committee Meeting to discuss plans for habitat management and how we are going to expand our range of activities next year. Thanks to all the Committee Members for their hard work and to our other reptile surveyors. Recruited another surveyor just a few days ago. Thanks also to our friends at HIWARG – the Hampshire Group – who continue to help us in so many ways.

As I have said in previous Dispatches, if you are interested in becoming a DARN reptile surveyor, email me and we will arrange for ARGWEB and field survey training if it is needed and then you will be given access to our widespread transect sites.

As usual casual sightings of amphibians and reptiles can be added to Casual Sightings on the DARN website: www.groups.arguk.org/darn  or on Record Pool: www.recordpool.org.uk or email the details to: sheiladyason2007@yahoo.co.uk. Historic records are fine as well. If you are not sure just email or message me.

I look forward to hearing from you

Keep safe!

Sheila Dyason

Chair of DARN

Conservation opportunities for everyone!

DARN Dispatches 11

16 Smooth Snakes on one transect

It has been a while since the last DARN Dispatches but we have not been idle! We are continuing to survey our existing DARN sites and 12 more rare reptile sites are planned. The first ones will be set up on Friday. As mentioned above, 16 Smooth Snakes were found at one of our sites recently which was amazing.

We are continuing to monitor the expanding range of the Wall Lizards at various sites with our NISER project – Non-native and Invasive Species, Escapees and Releases.

The SliC project – Slow-worms in Churchyards - is also ongoing with Slow-worms being found at most sites with an occasional Grass Snake and Common Lizard.

The Allotment project is still gathering records and we are beginning to build up a map of how amphibians and reptiles use the sites.

A new project is BASH – Birch Alleviation on Sensitive Heathland. Birch is increasingly and continually shading the heathland areas so DARN is going to trial different methods to control the Birch to see which is most effective and suitable for volunteers to undertake.

We have also set up a DARN Headshot Library so that we can identify old friends and follow their progress and also see who else is living in the area. This will also, over time, help with gauging population sizes.

David, our foreign correspondent in Greece, continues to send us wonderful photos of reptile sightings from his back garden and beyond including fabulous blue skies and deserted beaches. Thanks David. Keep them coming! Gordon Burch has also been giving us live updates of his trip to Dorset and other countries. Joe Kaplonek seems to have found a good site to explore his photographic skills.

We have just held another Committee Meeting to discuss plans for habitat management later in the year and to catch-up on all our successes so far this year. Thanks to all the Committee Members for their hard work and to our other reptile surveyors. Thanks also to our friends at HIWARG – the Hampshire Group – who have helped us in so many ways and who enjoy the occasional trip over the border to Dorset to enjoy our wildlife as well.

As I have said in previous Dispatches, if you are interested in becoming a DARN reptile surveyor, email me and we will arrange for ARGWEB and field survey training if it is needed and then you will be given access to our widespread transect sites.

As usual casual sightings of amphibians and reptiles can be added to Casual Sightings on the DARN website: www.groups.arguk.org/darn  or on Record Pool: www.recordpool.org.uk or email the details to: sheiladyason2007@yahoo.co.uk. Historic records are fine as well. If you are not sure just email or message me.

I look forward to hearing from you

Keep safe!

Sheila Dyason

Chair of DARN

Conservation opportunities for everyone!

DARN Dispatches 10

Happy New Year!

One of the three Wall Lizards Cathy and I found on 5^th January at Boscombe. Having just read a paper on ‘Predator-elicited foot shakes in Wall Lizards’ I was delighted to see one of the Wall Lizards demonstrating this. I will be looking for other Wall Lizards along the cliffs and for Wall Lizards on Portland.

So this year DARN will be continuing with the SliC Project – Slow-worms in Churchyards. Cathy will also be co-ordinating the NISER Project - Non-native Invasive Species Escapees and Releases. Starting off with Wall Lizards and then anything else that is encountered along the way. Therefore we are interested in sightings of any non-native species as well as native ones. This will help us to better understand the herps of Dorset.

A very successful habitat management task was carried out just before Christmas at Hurn Forest. A massive thank you to all the DARN and HIWARG volunteers who came to help.

With the mild weather amphibians started to return to their breeding ponds in December including 5 Palmate Newts and a frog in my ponds. Spawn counts will be the first major survey of the year. Any spawn found can be recorded as usual on Casual Sightings on the DARN website: www.groups.arguk.org/darn  or on Record Pool: www.recordpool.org.uk or email the details to: sheiladyason2007@yahoo.co.uk. Historic records are fine as well. So if you normally have frogspawn in your pond and there is not any this year, last year’s sighting can still be added. If you are not sure just email or message me.

David, our foreign correspondent in Greece, continues to send us wonderful photos of reptile sightings from his back garden and beyond including fabulous blue skies and deserted beaches. Thanks David. Keep them coming!

We are going to hold another zoom Committee Meeting next month to discuss plans for the new survey season. Warren is still busy organising and setting up more transects across Dorset. We are hoping to attend a couple of public engagement events this year – have gazebo will travel.

As I’ve said in previous Dispatches, if you are interested in becoming a DARN reptile surveyor, email me and we will arrange for ARGWEB and field survey training if it is needed and then you will be given access to our widespread transect sites.

I look forward to hearing from you

Keep safe!

Sheila Dyason

Chair of DARN

Conservation opportunities for everyone!