Essex Amphibian & Reptile Group (EARG)

About us

About Us

The Essex ARG was formed in the mid 1990's. A relaunch occurred at Abbotts Hall Farm in 2002 where the group was re established organising training events on great crested newts and reptiles. Since that time the group has varied in size year on year. Anyone who works, lives in Essex can become a member of the group. Recording efforts are shared with the Essex Field Club where events are put on jointly.

The group is rather informal at present with various low key projects being implemented surrounding pond restoration, creation and habitat management. Involvement with local Biodiversity Action Plans used to be an important role for the group in terms of reptiles and amphibians but unfortuantely there are now moves towards habitat action plans and less focus on species.

The Essex ARG has now embarked on helping with managing nature conservation sites in the county. Three such sites are planned in Basildon, Rochford & Colchester the focus of the group is changing towards a proactive stance rather than a reactive approach towards development - areas of land will be maintained to benefit wildlife particularly its herpetofauna.

People can send an email to essex_arg@hotmail.com or phone the chair Ray Cranfield 07841 359827 for details on how to get involved

News

Essex ARG - winter events 2011

Posted on Sunday 6th February, 2011

New events, are being planned in February - contact Ray on essex_arg@hotmail.com for more info

Further details to be posted soon

EARG members heading to #HWM2011

Posted on Tuesday 25th January, 2011

Herpetofauna Workers' Meeting 2011
EARG members are heading to the Herpetofauna Workers' Meeting this weekend. The meeting is the main national meeting for people who work with herpetofauna in the UK. The event is a mixture of different people - consultants, amateur naturalists, conservation bodies, companies, ARG members and academics to present talks on variety of subjects and to take part in discussions in workshops on the Sunday.

Presentations which members hope to hear include clean water ponds by Jeremy Biggs (Pond Conservation), Adder ecology by Nigel Hand (Herefordshire ART), and NARRS survey protocols for reptiles by David Sewell (DICE). EARG members gave their time to help with the NARRS project and selected Bonners Barn for study site and carried out field visits for this important research. EARG will be organising training events for NARRS in 2011 - details to be added soon.

Workshops which are of most interest include Reptile Mitigation, Amphibian Disease & Non native species of herpetofauna.

The EARG has been re-established for 9 years now and we have worked hard to raise money for projects in our county and have made a contribution to the ARG UK network through a donation of funds.

The EARG are every pleased to be supporting the #HWM2011 and the ARG UK for 2011.