Well Done to Sue, Gina and Cressida
As they rescued over a hundred toads last night (n = 108), well done for your help hopefully more people will be out tonight for the migration from 7.30pm onwards.
I collected up around 25 to 30 toads last night for processing - I noticed that many toads were crossing the road the wrong way were these animals we had rescued previously - we will marking the toads to find out.......more info soon
Also I got some great photos of the toads along the footpath - I will post these soon
Keep an eye out for the first spawn!
Jon
Wednesday 28 February 2007
Monday 26 February 2007
Back at the start in 1997
The toad patrols along Drove Lane and Avington Park have been established since 1997 - this year is the tenth year -
Natalie Carpenter the original toad patroller has provided the previous data collected in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001
The numbers rescued seems to follow the national trend for the Common toad - i.e. numbers have declined over 4 years
Drove Lane this year has produced very few toads and a few frogs but no way near the numbers which were first rescued in 1997 - discussions are being made after this years patrol to see how the crossing can be de registered
At Avington Park things are looking better - we have rescued several hundred toads since 13th Feb - Good numbers of toads are already in the lake and we are waiting for the first spawn......
We will be going out again tonight. We have a migration period from around 14th Feb to 12th March so we still need volunteers!
Regards
Jon
Natalie Carpenter the original toad patroller has provided the previous data collected in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001
The numbers rescued seems to follow the national trend for the Common toad - i.e. numbers have declined over 4 years
Drove Lane this year has produced very few toads and a few frogs but no way near the numbers which were first rescued in 1997 - discussions are being made after this years patrol to see how the crossing can be de registered
At Avington Park things are looking better - we have rescued several hundred toads since 13th Feb - Good numbers of toads are already in the lake and we are waiting for the first spawn......
We will be going out again tonight. We have a migration period from around 14th Feb to 12th March so we still need volunteers!
Regards
Jon
Friday 23 February 2007
A fantastic night
Imagine the scene, clear night sky with crisp stars across the sky, moonlight reflected in the expanse of Avington Park Lake and with a wall of sound emanating from the water......
A very distinctive sound of a frog/toad chorus
A good bucketful of toads were rescued from the road and the car park area - these are residing in my garage waiting to be processed (weighed & measured) and then released tonight...
I went down to the lake today and I found a grim discovery - after seeing the toads along the footpath - up to 56 adult toads and of course animals laying out in the shallows - it was little distressing to find body parts of female toads in the grassy edges of the pond
and a little way into the lake I found a dead female frog carefully cleaned out of her spawn
So what has eaten these animals?
Any Ideas please post some here
Jon
A very distinctive sound of a frog/toad chorus
A good bucketful of toads were rescued from the road and the car park area - these are residing in my garage waiting to be processed (weighed & measured) and then released tonight...
I went down to the lake today and I found a grim discovery - after seeing the toads along the footpath - up to 56 adult toads and of course animals laying out in the shallows - it was little distressing to find body parts of female toads in the grassy edges of the pond
and a little way into the lake I found a dead female frog carefully cleaned out of her spawn
So what has eaten these animals?
Any Ideas please post some here
Jon
Friday 16 February 2007
Looking like Thursday next week
The weather seems to be getting wetter this night so we may need to focus attention on this day -
Jon
Jon
The toads have gone to ground for now
After the activity on the 13th Feb - we still havent found toads crossing during our main time period of 7pm to around 9pm
This morning was quite wet so the toads may have crossed during the early morning (16th Feb).
I will be out tonight on a later shift between 9pm to around 11.30pm while Sue will be out tonight from 7pm to 9pm -
We would welcome any helpers at any time and for any time period 30mins to all night if you can bear it - the initials are as follows - JC = Jon C, MH = Mark H, S& G (Sue & Gina) CW = Cressida W - we need to make sure we can cover both sites over the main part of the night - 7pm to 11pm - we may have to go out in the early morning 12midnight to around 4am - possibly when toads are moving at that time though less traffic means less danger
Dates ----------- Times (already covered)
16th Feb --- 7 to 9pm (S & G) probably after 11am (JC)
17th Feb --- 7 to 8pm (S & G) - 8pm to 10pm (JC)
18th Feb --- 7 to 10pm (JC)
19th Feb --- 7 to 9pm (S & G) - 10pm to 11.30pm (JC)
20th Feb --- 7 to 9pm (S & G & JC)
21st Feb ---
22nd Feb ---
23rd Feb --- 7 to 9pm (S&G)
24th Feb ---
25th Feb ---
26th Feb --- 7 to 9pm (S&G)
27th Feb --- 7 to 9pm (S&G)
28th Feb --- 7 to 9pm (S&G)
March Dates to follow soon - if you can help with any of the above and future dates please let me know - info@herpetologic.co.uk
my tel 01962 733932
This morning was quite wet so the toads may have crossed during the early morning (16th Feb).
I will be out tonight on a later shift between 9pm to around 11.30pm while Sue will be out tonight from 7pm to 9pm -
We would welcome any helpers at any time and for any time period 30mins to all night if you can bear it - the initials are as follows - JC = Jon C, MH = Mark H, S& G (Sue & Gina) CW = Cressida W - we need to make sure we can cover both sites over the main part of the night - 7pm to 11pm - we may have to go out in the early morning 12midnight to around 4am - possibly when toads are moving at that time though less traffic means less danger
Dates ----------- Times (already covered)
16th Feb --- 7 to 9pm (S & G) probably after 11am (JC)
17th Feb --- 7 to 8pm (S & G) - 8pm to 10pm (JC)
18th Feb --- 7 to 10pm (JC)
19th Feb --- 7 to 9pm (S & G) - 10pm to 11.30pm (JC)
20th Feb --- 7 to 9pm (S & G & JC)
21st Feb ---
22nd Feb ---
23rd Feb --- 7 to 9pm (S&G)
24th Feb ---
25th Feb ---
26th Feb --- 7 to 9pm (S&G)
27th Feb --- 7 to 9pm (S&G)
28th Feb --- 7 to 9pm (S&G)
March Dates to follow soon - if you can help with any of the above and future dates please let me know - info@herpetologic.co.uk
my tel 01962 733932
Thursday 15 February 2007
LInks
www.narrs.org.uk
National Amphibian & Reptile Recording Scheme
www.arg-uk.org.uk
Amphibian & Reptile Groups of the UK
www.herpetofauna.co.uk
The Reptile & Amphibian of the UK E forum
Some excellent links to websites which may be of interest
National Amphibian & Reptile Recording Scheme
www.arg-uk.org.uk
Amphibian & Reptile Groups of the UK
www.herpetofauna.co.uk
The Reptile & Amphibian of the UK E forum
Some excellent links to websites which may be of interest
Feb 14th - Valentines Day
The saying dont work with animals and children became apparent last night......
We had two new volunteers - Sue and Gina - a mix up I also missed Cressida (SORRY!) we got to Drove lane ready to find the toads........the animals were not playing last night
We then went onto Avington Park with a BBC cameraman (Joe) was in attendance and it just wasnt the right conditions - clear sky, a little dry and quite cold - at Drove lane we had temperatures of 3.5C
Later on the temperature was -1.5C at Avington Park - on the 13th Feb the air temperature was 7.5C to 8C - wet and plenty of cloud - perfect conditions for the toads!
Luckily we did have some toads in hand to show our volunteers the differences between male and female toads
The weather forecast for tonight though seems better and we will be out again tonight from around 6.30pm - my number 01962 733932
We had two new volunteers - Sue and Gina - a mix up I also missed Cressida (SORRY!) we got to Drove lane ready to find the toads........the animals were not playing last night
We then went onto Avington Park with a BBC cameraman (Joe) was in attendance and it just wasnt the right conditions - clear sky, a little dry and quite cold - at Drove lane we had temperatures of 3.5C
Later on the temperature was -1.5C at Avington Park - on the 13th Feb the air temperature was 7.5C to 8C - wet and plenty of cloud - perfect conditions for the toads!
Luckily we did have some toads in hand to show our volunteers the differences between male and female toads
The weather forecast for tonight though seems better and we will be out again tonight from around 6.30pm - my number 01962 733932
The migration has started......
A few toads were seen along Drove lane on the 13th February - Cressida, Mark and myself had a recky over the two sites....details of what we found will be posted soon....
I thought great we can get the press involved with Valentines Day and our volunteers helping the toads to love etc
to be cont'd
I thought great we can get the press involved with Valentines Day and our volunteers helping the toads to love etc
to be cont'd
Sunday 11 February 2007
It is almost time......
The night temperatures are getting into double figures 10 to 11C and so we will be preparing for our first set of nights checking for toads in Drove Lane and Avington Park........
A meet up will be this Tuesday at the Horse & Groom - probably around 6.45 to 7.15pm - you can email me to check for further details info@herpetologic.co.uk
Looking forward to this year's captures......
I will be putting up the previous years captures supplied by Natalie Carpenter (thanx) and I will also be posting past news items etc
Jon
A meet up will be this Tuesday at the Horse & Groom - probably around 6.45 to 7.15pm - you can email me to check for further details info@herpetologic.co.uk
Looking forward to this year's captures......
I will be putting up the previous years captures supplied by Natalie Carpenter (thanx) and I will also be posting past news items etc
Jon
Friday 2 February 2007
First casualty reported
A toad copped it on Drove lane over he last few days - I went to inspect the road tonight, no moving toads at around 7.30pm - also Avington Park - no toads
I am looking at logo printed high vis vests for our volunteers and I will be getting 25 large vests for our volunteers (so you can get jumpers underneath)
At around 8pm called local restaurant for a well deserved curry and a beer from Naked Grape
I think that the meet up will be very soon if the warm or mild weather continues.......
I am looking at logo printed high vis vests for our volunteers and I will be getting 25 large vests for our volunteers (so you can get jumpers underneath)
At around 8pm called local restaurant for a well deserved curry and a beer from Naked Grape
I think that the meet up will be very soon if the warm or mild weather continues.......
Thursday 1 February 2007
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