The latest article from CAN's Andy Harmer reviewing the situation surrounding the status of the adder in Cheshire.

• The Records
• Historical status of Adder
• Current Status
• The Future for Adder in Cheshire

 

Amphibian and Reptile Records 2000-2010
This is a summary of records dated 2000 – 2010 submitted to the HARG county recorder. There are more records pre-dating this and we are still receiving records for within this time period, therefore this is by no means a definitive record but gives a good indication of distribution and recorder effort

In total 11,101 records were submitted. It highlights areas were future survey could be focused to ensure representative coverage of the whole county.

Make the Adder Count is a survey co-ordinated by The Amphibian and Reptile Conservation. Following a successful pilot project in 2005, we plan to turn it into a long-term national surveillance programme, collating data from many sites, to monitor trends in adder populations.

The ARG network is a partner in the Million Ponds Project - here is the report on the second year of this important project

Interim results of the UK National Amphibian and Reptile Recording Scheme Widespread Species Surveys

written by Andrew A. Cunningham and Peter Minting, 2008.

• Introduction
• Project aims
• Methods
• Results and discussion
• Summary of main findings and conclusions
• Acknowledgements
• References

 

The protocol this year has been slightly updated from that used in 2008 (based on results, feedback and lessons learnt in 2008).

• 30 amphibians to be sampled per site (can be a mix of species)
• Single survey between March and June (you can start as soon as you haveyour swab packs).
• All samples collected on a single day/evening to avoid resampling.
• No frogs!
• No tadpoles! (post metamorphic animals only please)
• Capture from the water (i.e. not migrating toads en route to the breedingponds)
• Avoid contamination between animals

Arnold Cooke(2011) The role of road traffic in the near extinction of Common Toads
(Bufo bufo) in Ramsey and Bury, Nature in Cambridgeshire 53, 45-50 (2011)