Two Nights in the Life of a Volunteer Surveyor


I've just spent two evenings in the field and am beginning to thaw out.  It certainly has been a cold start to the season. 

Tuesday was spent in the Clifford Rd area of Whitstable with Ray Lee who is returning from a break in his surveying and will be taking part in this year's great crested newt monitoring project.  Whilst we didn't manage to find any newts in the Clifford Rd pond, and there are historical records of GCN in this pond we did see a massive clump of frog spawn and several frogs.  We also visited a friend who lives in Clifford Rd and after a nice warming cup of tea (volunteer fuel) surveyed his pond finding large numbers of smooth newts and these 3 frogs in amplexus.  Thanks for the tea Yann.  What can I say...it was cold.




Three Frogs in Amplexus
 

This evening a veritable clan gathered at a pond just outside Park Wood near Maidstone and it was cold again with no tea filled refuge for a half time warm up. 



Lyndsey, Ruth, Andy, Richard and Lesley

The pond's habitat suitability was assessed and an egg search, net sweep and torch survey were carried out.  No amphibians were found though Richard says that he saw palmate newts this time last week.  Richard and Lesley will return to the pond several times in the next few months and will hopefully have better luck later on in the season.
 
So an enjoyable start to the season for me and I feel like I'm getting back into the swing of things again.  Many thanks to all those who turned up to help this week.  Did I mention it was a bit nippy!!
 
Mike Phillips

Posted: Thu - March 16, 2006 at 09:33 am        

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