Wetland flowers talk

People interested in taking part in future pond surveys might be interested in the following illustrated talk organised by the Uckfield and District Natural History Society:

Flowers of Ponds, Rivers and Marshes by Sue Buckingham

Thursday November 13th at 7.30pm at Uckfield Civic Centre (Green Room).

Article on toads

The Guardian article in this link in praise of toads (and our perception of them) is interesting.

A London symposium

Symposium on the Global Amphibian Extinction Crisis

The Linnean Society, with Professor Gordon McGregor Reid of the North of England Zoological Society and Dr Lesley Dickie of the Zoological Society of London, are organising a one day symposium on the above topic on 6^th November 2008 at the Linnean Society of London, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1.

The programme points out that “The world’s amphibians are facing an uncertain future. Up to a third are threatened with extinction, while half of all species are in decline. While the majority of threats to frogs and their relatives are well documented in other species a recently identified amphibian specific fungal disease, Batrachochytrium dendrobatadis (Bd), is the most immediate driver of amphibian extinction globally. This symposium will detail the declines and possible solutions."

All Linnean Society meetings are open to the public as well as members of the organisation. Registration is £25 (£15 for students) and includes the program, lunch and coffee/tea breaks.

Further details: www.linnean.org/index.php?id=135

Regional meeting 2008

ARG UK South East Regional Meeting. Saturday 15th November 2008

Marwell Zoological Park, near Winchester, Hampshire

COST £7. Booking essential. Light refreshments will be provided but please bring lunch

For further information or to book please contact Natalie Rogers:

Tel: 01489 774406,

Email: natalier@hwt.org.uk,

Post: Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, Beechcroft House, Vicarage Lane, Curdridge, Hampshire SO30 2NS.

Please make cheques payable to Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust.

Mystery of the sex change toads

There was an interesting article in The Independent on 13 July 2008 on American research showing that male toads on intensively farmed land are changing sex. The study may provide a clue as to why the world's amphibians are disappearing faster than any class of species since the dinosaur.

Read it here: link

Snake attacks on the increase

A rather worrying report here in The Argus newspaper.  If adders really are on the increase, that is good news but it will be a problem if people get worried about.

Dogs can be vulnerable to adders but there needs to be a sense of proportion.

State of our Herps, 2007

In the Government's State of the Countryside 2007 report there is some encouraging news about arrests in species declines. However in the section on Environmental Quality, it says this of reptiles and amphibians:

"Evidence from biological indicators suggests that the situation has stabilised but at lower levels than several decades ago, and it may be some time before ecological improvements are clearly visible. Some measures suggest that where improvements have occurred, such as in river water quality, the more mobile species such as otters can make an effective recovery. It may take a lot longer and require active habitat restoration and reintroduction programmes to improve the situation for less mobile species such as reptiles and amphibians."

Gotta keep trying folks!

The full report is on line here.

A garden pond weblog

There is an interesting webog here on life in a pond in a garden:

http://www.mybitoftheplanet.com/2006/frogjan.html