We teamed up with our friends from Barnes Common and donned the waders to survey the ponds at Vine Road. This was to be our final bottle trapping survey of the season and did not disappoint with a number of newts, tadpoles and invertebrates, including water scorpions and great diving beetle nymphs captured.

In addition to amphibians, Barnes Common also boasts a healthy number of common lizards, and we look forward to working with the Friends of Barnes Common/Barnes Common Limited again in the future to monitor these populations.

This spring we were invited by North London Scouts District to take the Bounds Green Scouts on their first newt-hunting expedition! The scouts learnt lots about the life-cycles of our native amphibians, the behaviours of our different newt species during their aquatic breeding phase and the importance of looking after our urban ponds.

Their energy and enthusiasm was rewarded during the morning session with the opportunity to get an up-close experience with some male and female newts caught in our bottle traps. The Scouts were very grateful for the opportunity to see their ponds in a way that they had not been able to before.

This spring we visited Ham Common Woods in Richmond, a 30 hectare site comprising woodland, acid grassland, scrub and ponds, which links Richmond Park with Ham Common. The survey offered us an opportunity to try out our new floating bottle traps, purchased using funding from ARG UK's 100% fund.

We were hopeful of encountering great crested and palmate newts, given their presence locally, and although we did not detect any evidence of either of these two species, the presence of smooth newts, toad tadpoles and an abundance of diverse invertebrate life were encouraging signs that the ponds at Ham Common Woods are of high biodiversity value and an important resource to amphibian populations locally.

During the survey we also encountered many bats foraging during the evening, and a vibrant dawn chorus of breeding birds the following morning.

London Amphibian and Reptile Group have been collaborating with Ealing Wildlife Group to carry out surveys at sites in Yeading and Northolt. Utilising ARG UK's 100% fund, we were able to purchase some new survey equipment in the form of bottle traps and artificial refugia, which have helped us to discover new breeding populations of great crested newt and slow worm in the borough.

We look forward to continuing to work with Ealing Wildlife Group in the future, and would like to highlight the fantastic work that they do in North-west London.

On 9th March, Pensford Field Environmental Trust kindly hosted London Amphibian and Reptile Group at Pensford Field in Kew. Pensford Field is a small yet biodiverse site in the heart of Kew which is managed and cared for independently by a dedicated charity formed from hard-working local residents.

The site boasts woodland, orchard trees, meadow grassland with ant hills and a rain-fed pond, which fills using rainwater runoff from the clubhouse roof. During the spring months, it is a hive of activity for frogs, toads and newts which all breed in the pond at Pensford Field.

London Amphibian and Reptile Group gave a detailed talk to approximately 20 residents in the Trust's clubhouse, covering topics such as habitat management, threats to our native amphibians and reptiles and the impacts of climate change on amphibians and reptiles. The talk finished with a trip outside to the pond, which was teaming with frogspawn and smooth newts - we are informed that toads duly followed suit a couple of weeks later!

We would like to thank Pensford Field Environmental Trust for inviting us to give a talk and for the hard work that they do looking after the site and to conserve the local amphibian populations.