GlosARG

We are off and running with our new group; GlosARG!

Gloucestershire Amphibian and Reptile Group has been set up for the conservation of all our native reptiles and amphibians throughout Gloucestershire.
We are an affiliated group of ARG UK.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

If you would like to get involved, please contact us through one of the links below. We have a website, Facebook and Twitter pages, so you can easily get hold of us.
The feeling you get from knowing you have done something to conserve wildlife can not be beaten, so please get involved. It is fun, interesting and educational.
Get the kids involved and give them a passion, which will carry them well through life. What a feeling it would be to see your own children pass this gift onto your grandchildren!

We have only been running for a few weeks and in this time we have already discovered a "new" Great Crested Newt colony in the Forest of Dean.
These newts are endangered and protected by European law, so we couldn't have hoped for a better start!

You can reach us through the following links below.

GlosARG Website
Facebook
Twitter

ARG UK

Thank you in advance.

Rob

"New" Gloucestershire ARG

With a friend I have started a new amphibian and reptile conservation group in the Forest of dean, Gloucestershire.
This group is called GlosARG and we are an affiliated group of ARG UK.

Our aim is to.....

Raise awareness
Recruit volunteers
Survey Gloucestershire
Manage existing habitats
Create new habitats
Achieve protection status on existing and new habitats
See Gloucestershire recognised as a special place for Herptile Conservation

This isn't going to happen overnight and it isn't going to be easy, but with our passion, focus and some much needed help, I am sure we can achieve our goals.
Until now Gloucestershire did not have a ARG group, so Scott and I decided to change this and show the world the wonders of this special place.
Please contact me if you would like to help. We will be organising walks, talks as well as teaching volunteers how to survey all the magnificent amphibians and reptiles we have in Gloucestershire.

ARG Website

Follow us on...
Twitter
Facebook


As well as many other species, these are just some of the amphibians and reptiles we will be surveying and looking after throughout Gloucestershire.

Great Crested Newt

Adder

Grass Snake

Common Lizard

Toads

Frogs

Rob

NEW BLOG....!

I have started a new blog, dedicated to one species that is and always will be close to my heart. The snake.
We have two snakes in the Forest of Dean and both are native. They are the grass snake (Natrix natrix) and the adder (Vipera berus).

The adder is Britain's only venomous snake and this, accompanied by all the scare stories that have been around since time began, has given the snake a bad reputation.
Some people fear them, some people even kill them on sight, but this is down to ignorance and a lack of education because no animal deserves to die just because the TV has told us that they can be dangerous!

I love the snake for its shy secret life, its stealth and above all its beauty!



I hope you like my blog and please recommend it to your friends. Thanks.

SNAKES IN THE FOREST OF DEAN

Rob

BBC Radio Glos Interview

Below is a slide show accompanying a BBC Radio Gloucestershire interview I gave recently. I would like to stress that the adder is relatively harmless unless you have an allergic reaction. However, I would suggest that all adder bites are taken seriously and medical advice should be sought asap.



Rob

Newspaper Article - Snakes

BLACK ADDER GOES FORTH

Below is a link to a newspaper article I supplied to the local press, it has been slightly changed and edited.
My main purpose was to try and dismiss the fears that some have regarding our native snakes as just rumours and folklore. I hope it helps to save a few!
I usually find between 2 and 5 dead snakes within my reptile sites throughout the Forest of Dean. This figure may not seem high, but it is when both the adder and grass snake are in decline and are both protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, Schedule 5 from Trade, Injury and Killing!


http://www.forest-and-wye-today.co.uk/tn/news.cfm?id=10365&headline=Black adder goes forth



Rob

Hibernation

As the cold weather bites, quite a few of our woodland critters will be nestling down for a long, deep sleep called hibernation.
Please find below, some facts about one of our main hibernating species, the snake. A much feared, yet misunderstood reptile.

Scientific names: Adder (Vipera berus) - Grass Snake (Natrix natrix).
Life span: Adder (up to 15 years) - Grass Snake (up to 25 years).
Mating: April (although never in two consecutive years). Both species.
Birth: August to early September. Both.
Young: Adder (up to 10 live young) - Grass Snake (up to 30 eggs).
Venomous: Adder (yes) - Grass Snake (no)
Active: Between February and October (depending on conditions). Both.


Fatal adder bite statistics on humans for the past 133 years.

Fatalities: Since 1876 there have been 14 fatalities caused by the adders bite in Britain, the last being a 5 year old girl.
The number of adder bites on humans, which requires hospitalisation is 200 per-year. This equates to around 1 in 300,000 people.


People who see adders are sometimes mistaken by their size as this snake is really quite small, when compared to the grass snake. Males usually grow to 60cm and females 75cm in length, the reason they look bigger is because they flatten their bodies to absorb the sun over a larger area, to warm up faster when basking and this gives the impression that they are twice as big as they really are.

The smooth snake (Coronella austriaca) is also a native snake to Britain, but it is only found in southern England.


Hope you enjoy the new video.

TURN THE VOLUME UP

What I Think

Every day I feel more and more compelled to do or write something to highlight the Forest of Dean and it's wildlife.

I have a massive passion for photography, but I can't explain my feelings for this place. Every second of every day I am thinking about it. In my own mind, nobody even comes close to the way I feel. One day when the time is right, I will dedicate my whole life to the forest and it's critters.

I have had the pleasure of meeting some very talented, extraordinary people over the last few months and this has helped me immensly.

Especially to Marcus Moore and Ben Cavanna, I say thank you.

Hope you like the poem and video and don't forget to turn the...

VOLUME UP!

Large Grass Snake + More

Firstly, I want to apologise for being inactive lately. Had some issues, which took up a lot of my time, but I'm getting there slowly.


Here are a few pics, the first one is a Scarlet Tiger Moth (Callimorpha dominula), which flew into my home, the second is a Elephant Hawk Moth Caterpillar or larvae (Deilephila elpenor), which I found in my garden, the third is a Female Adder (Vipera berus), I photographed her near Speech House in the Forest of Dean and the last is a video of a large Grass Snake (Natrix natrix), which I filmed late in the evening at one of my favourite spots in the Forest of Dean.

Hope you like?


Scarlet Tiger Moth

Elephant Hawk Moth Caterpillar

Female Adder


Grass Snake Video (120cm approx)

Selective Colour with a Twist!

If you are looking for something different, something to wake you up in the morning, you have found it!

Selective colour with a few surprises along the way.

Enjoy and don't forget to turn the VOLUME UP!

Thanks

Rob

Wild Boar Debate Continued...........

Well as you will probably have read already, I have had a reply to my reply in the Review this week, regarding the wild boar!
Mrs. Partridge has asked the question whether I could hold my nerve and my camera steady with a couple of wild boar charging me.

Firstly, I would just like to say that I am posting this here as I believe a tit for tat battle through the newspaper will not get anyone anywhere, where the boar are concerned, I have had my say and she has had hers.

If the wild boar are seen so often and sooooooooo dangerous, why are they not attacking? It amazes me that people are still willing to condemn a species on the assumption that they MAY attack, when all the boar are doing is trotting or running up to check things out.
I have never hidden from the fact that they will kill a dog if they have young or if the dog becomes aggressive, but if you are reading this then you have access to the net... DO A SEARCH and look up unprovoked wild boar attacks on humans IN THE WORLD! Then condemn them, all they are doing is checking things out as they have very poor eyesight and can only distinguish blue from the three primary colours.
Do people not read or research anything these days?
It's like me saying Umm! There's a dog off a lead in the wood, it may bite me! Better do something to stop this or our children will get hurt.
COME ON, it's a forest with wild animals in it. There are fallow stags, which have the potential to kill a fully grown man during the rut and there are snakes, which can kill children and the elderly, but we don't run around screaming every time we see one, do we.

It's a joke and it anoys me when people make assumptions about our wildlife!

Mrs Partridge, I have been face to face with the biggest boar I have seen in my life and I have a witness who was with me at the time. I have had one run at me and the video is on HERE. I have photographed them in groups (sounders), on their own and with their little ones. I even photograph snakes UP CLOSE, so the answer to your questions is yes, I can hold my nerve, I can take a steady shot and I am never intimidated by the boar. I am wary of them and respect them as they are wild animals, but they are not monsters like they have been portrayed to be.
I only hope that you and many like you see them in a different light before it is too late. I also hope to be as lucky as you and see them on a more regular basis, this way I can get more video footage, which will show their behaviour and help to educate people on their behaviour, so they will see that they are not after our blood!

Until the next time....

Rob

Wild Boar Response Printed

Well the Review printed my response to the wild boar article from paper WE: 26th June 2009.
Hope you all agree with me, that our wildlife needs to be protected not destroyed?
By using a child as an example and by saying that the boar could have broken his legs, all this gentleman did was to incite more hatred towards the boar, as both comments were assumptions and the word assumption should not exist as it is relating to details, which are NOT fact!
The wild boar are always going to be controversial, but we can share our forests with them, without incident if we all remember they are wild animals and treat them with respect.
If a fallow buck in full antler or an adder was spotted by a member of the public, they would stop and stare and remember their memorable moment for years to come.
The fallow buck and the adder have more potential to kill a human than the wild boar, it's just that people are used to them and they are not often seen.
Over time and if managed correctly, this will happen to the boar, it just needs time.

I wonder how many dogs chase the deer around the forest, with the owners looking on and not giving a thought for the deer?

Rob

It's all in Your Imagination

Turn the volume up and enjoy!

New Snake Video

A new and improved snake video. All snakes taken by me in the Forest of Dean.

Don't forget to turn the volume up!

Enjoy!

Some More Forest Dwellers

This is a pic of my first grass snake up close (taken in 2004), she had just swam across Lightmore fishing pond and came out onto the bank near where I was sitting. This is the only decent pic I managed to get as she didn't hang around after she saw me! Around a metre in length.

This was taken in October 2008 at Speech House woods. The light levels were very, very low.

This adder was also taken in 2004 and I used a 400mm lens with 3 extension tubes to get close. This meant that I had to manually focus while hand holding on my belly!

This Owl is my favourite non-native species, the Great Grey. I photographed him at the National Bird of Prey Centre in Newent, Gloucestershire.

Various Forest Wildlife

I photographed this red kite at the National Bird of Prey Centre at Newent, Gloucestershire.

This grass snake had it's eye on a meal, sadly a strike opportunity didn't happen? Maybe next time?

A female adder on a low tree branch, I used a reflector to bounce the light back under her.

Just a few pics to get me started.

The female grass snake was around 4' long, I found her near Speech House.

The female adder was around 14" long, again found and photographed near Speech House.

The Blue Tit was photographed during the snow in Feb 2009 at the fallen tree near the entrance to the Speech House Arboretum.