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Reptiles from "corridor" to "park": |
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wellies101 Member Joined: 04 Dec 2008 No. of posts: 14  View other posts by wellies101 |
Posted: 04 Dec 2008 Hi All First post here! I work in a country park (c. 200 acres) that is technically 13 years old as a park. Before this it was a gravel extraction site then landfill. Now it has neutral grassland meadows, lakes, reedbeds and wet woodlands and in my limited experience so far in conservation, this smacks of potential reptile habitat. However, before I started (18 months ago) there had been no records of reptiles since the park opened. I put 12 reptile tins out along the edge of the park which runs along a railway line to check for their presence at the back end of this summer and we've had 2 juvenile grassy's during that time! However, they've not been recorded elsewhere on site and my concern is they are using the railway line as a wildlife corridor and not branching into the park and the rest of the habitat. They would have one, maybe two, paths to cross, but they are only 1m wide at most. Then they are in meadows or scrub, perfect! I have spoken to Steve Langham @ SARG (not going against the advice you gave me then Steve, just thought I'd see if other people had other ideas) about how we try and encourage the reptiles "into" the park who gave me great advice. However, I just wanted to see if other people had any experience of how to potentially overcome obstacles such as this? The alternative (again in discussion with Steve @ SARG about this) is to introduce reptiles into the heart of the park from a donor site that is being developed, therefore, losing the habitat completely. Any thoughts? |
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herpetologic2 Senior Member Joined: 15 Jun 2004 No. of posts: 1369  View other posts by herpetologic2 |
Posted: 04 Dec 2008 Yes I would say that you should resist the temptation of introducing reptiles into the heart of the park. The grass snakes you found would have no trouble venturing into other parts of the park. The thing you have to remember is that grass snakes use habitats which are a very small part of an area. Hedgerows, ditches, banks, woodland edges, railway lines etc all enable grass snakes to move around the countryside. Further monitoring of suitable reptile habitats using visual searches aswell as Artificial refugia over the next few seasons will help you detect reptiles on the site. The railway line would probably be the most likely source of reptiles - lizards and slowworms possibly. Slowworms have very low dispersal capabilities while lizards do move through the countryside along suitable habitats. Grass snakes would have no trouble getting over paths of 1 metre not a problem for grassies. I would look at the management of the park - look for areas which can be left undisturbed or managed very lightly. I would create brash piles or compost piles along hedgerows near the railway line. I would also look at the prey items for snakes - are there any ponds on the site? can you put in some ponds to try and establish newts and other amphibians. Locate them near the railway. carry on the survey for 2009 and into 2010 and then decide whether animals can be moved from a local development site - Grass snakes do not need to be brought to the site but slowworms could be introduced if you find areas where there is suitable habitat but there has been no sightings. If anyone suggests that they have reptiles to move to the site - make sure that they contribute to the monitoring surveys, make sure you get funding for management and follow up surveys. I would wait and see what your survey reveals in the years to come
Regards
Jon Vice Chair of ARG UK - self employed consultant - visit ARG UK & Alresford Wildlife |
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herpetologic2 Senior Member Joined: 15 Jun 2004 No. of posts: 1369 View other posts by herpetologic2 |
Posted: 04 Dec 2008 PS - you need to increase the search area with more tins and further VES transects
jon Vice Chair of ARG UK - self employed consultant - visit ARG UK & Alresford Wildlife |
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wellies101 Member Joined: 04 Dec 2008 No. of posts: 14 View other posts by wellies101 |
Posted: 05 Dec 2008 Jon VES? Visual Encounter Survey? Can you describe the methodology of this to me please? I have visions of sitting in possible reptiles locations for a set amount of time, or walking a regular transect. "I would look at the management of the park - look for areas which can be left undisturbed or managed very lightly. I would create brash piles or compost piles along hedgerows near the railway line. I would also look at the prey items for snakes - are there any ponds on the site? can you put in some ponds to try and establish newts and other amphibians. Locate them near the railway." There are compost piles, one very large, and two ephemeral ponds near the railway line so both of these exist currently and have done for a number of years. Slow worms and common lizard have never been recorded on site, but as you suggest, I would like to get at least a full seasons recording done (2009) before I look at species introductions. James |
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Robert V Senior Member Joined: 06 Aug 2004 No. of posts: 717 View other posts by Robert V |
Posted: 11 Dec 2008
James, ever considered that the tins maybe being disturbed by other persons and so not harbouring as many specimens as there are on site? Robert RobV |
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wellies101 Member Joined: 04 Dec 2008 No. of posts: 14 View other posts by wellies101 |
Posted: 11 Dec 2008 Robert Possibly, but this part of the park has quite a high degree of disturbance anyway (mainly from dog walkers on leads and walkers in general) who alll stick to the path. And in Spring/Summer, most of the tins can't be seen from the path so they aren't that obvious (and in Winter they have very little under them). James |
- Reptiles from "corridor" to "park" |