A report on the progress on the new vivaria being constructed in Merseyside to captive breed one of UK's rarest reptiles, the sand lizard, for release in the local area. The captive breeding programme is one of the most successful reptile reintroduction projects in the world and has been coordinated by Amphibian and Reptile Conservation as part of the Natural England sand lizard recovery programme.

The ARG UK was very pleased to be able to support the purchase of materials to build a new home vivaria where sand lizards collected from the wild could be bred to produce healthy young lizards for reintroduction. The funds were provided to the Merseyside ARG through the network's 100% Fund. People can donate to this pot of money reassured that it will be spent on practical conservation directly and is not used for staff, administration costs etc - it does what is says on the tin - providing herpetofauna conservation 100% of the time!

Other projects funded by the 100% fund

Adder genetics project - through the Suffolk Amphibian & Reptile Group

Pond creation projects - Manchester ARG and Essex ARG

We would love to hear from anyone who would like to have small grant for their project - grants up to £250.00 - in some cases more have been allocated in the region of £500 - £1,000 when the fund enables us to do so.

We are pleased to report that Habitat Aid are donating 50% if their profits from their sales of aquatic plants to the ARG UK - we are going to be putting this into the 100% fund to help with practical conservation which benefits amphibians and reptiles directly.

Supporters

Herpetologic Ltd

CGO Ecology

others to be included here