Monday 10 March 2014

Slow worm pictures

Lovely slow worm pictures from the new site Ray revisited at the weekend.


A couple of very healthy looking specimens, lets hope they're part of a large population.

The national Amphibian & Reptile Group (ARG UK) asks "could you all please keep an eye out for any shed grass snake skins? It's for a DNA study so a sample + grid ref/post code."
If you do find a shed skin either nationally or locally please let them know If you find one locally please let us know too.


Saturday 8 March 2014

A new Fylde slow worm site

On a trip to the supermarket our ace herpetologist Ray had a few minutes to spare followed a hunch and chose to have a look at a possible reptile site.
A good move as it happened as lifting the first piece of concrete there was a Slow Worm underneath. A this is good news as this is a new site for the species and Ray says it looks good for Common Lizards too.
There are records of the species to further to the east on the outskirts of Preston and there may be a record from an Environmental Impact Assessment a couple of miles to the west of this site but it isn't/hasn't yet been recorded on the National Biodiversity Network maps. Certainly scope for more  work along this stretch of habitat.
Ray's going to try to get some photos tomorrow so watch this space.

In other news Frogs are appearing in gardens across the Fylde with spawn being reported from ponds across the area - please report your sightings using the widget in the side bar. We probably have more knowledge about the rarer Great Crested Newt's distribution than the Frogs and Toads!