Wildlife Everywhere!

Had a cracking day in the forest on Sunday with a good friend Scott Passmore. Spent 6hrs in a hide and managed to see fallow deer, red fox, buzzard, lizard and great spotted woodpeckers before heading out into the forest to try and track down some wild boar.

Didn't find any boar as the bracken and grass was just too high, but did see a goshawk, loads of butterflies and moths, and also 20+ deer, although one had seen better days!!!

Ten hour shift searching for wildlife and finding loads, so a very productive day. All photograph below are of wild animals, seen in the Forest of Dean on Sunday 22.07.2012.

Hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Not great for photography and pretty hard going on foot, but I love exploring areas like this!

Forest of Dean

Enormous Ant Hills!

At Least 15 Speckled Wood Browns (I Think?)

Cinnabar Moths Crowding a Thistle Flower

Sneaky Red Fox

Fallow Buck in Velvet

Roe Buck Skull, Complete with Antlers

Rob

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

GlosARG and Some Bucks!

GlosARG

If you are not already aware, along with a good friend Scott Passmore I have founded Gloucestershire's very own Reptile and Amphibian Conservation Group. This group is only a couple of weeks old yet we have already discovered a new colony of Great Crested Newts living in an old, secluded pond deep in the Forest of Dean.

A great start to our new venture and we hope for many more discoveries in the years to come.

If you live in the Gloucestershire area and want to help us by becoming involved. Please visit our website, Facebook page or even Twitter. You can contact us on all of these pages and we will be delighted to sign you up!

I have been finding, surveying and managing areas for the adder and grass snake for years. In turn this helps other reptiles and amphibians in the area. I have a wealth of experience and I would be delighted to pass this on to the right people so that together, we can make Gloucestershire a recognised place where Reptile and Amphibian Conservation is concerned.

See links under adder pic.

Female Adder

GlosARG

Facebook

Twitter

ARG UK

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Now for Some Deer

These two chaps (Fallow Deer Bucks) were having a lazy stroll through the foxgloves and the more I observed them, the more I noticed some peculiar behaviour.

When fallow deer breed the buck will bite the back of the doe, like what you can see in the photograph below, so either this chap was getting a little frisky, or he was just getting some practice in for the big day?   

Their antlers are still in the early stages of growth and are covered in velvet at this time of the year, but over the next couple of months the antlers you see here will grow to a massive size and during the month of September they will rub the velvet off on trees surrounding their breeding territory.

If you look at the two front points of the antler, which are growing out to protect the eyes during a fight you will notice that they are quite long. This indicates that when fully grown, these two chaps will have some pretty impressive palmate antlers.

They may look firm friends now, but come September/October, they will be bitter rivals and will even fight for the right to mate with the doe's in this area.

As long as they do not move to a different part of the forest, I will do my best to find and photograph these two chaps as their antlers grow and the rutting season commences. 

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

Swans and 7 Cygnets - Video

In 2010 on a local pond, two swans successfully reared 7 cygnets. I filmed them over a two hour period and you can see the end result here.

If you like swans, especially cygnets then you will love this as it is truly mesmerising and beautiful.

Sorry about the quality, but I had to convert from MPEG2 to AVI as the file was too large in MPEG format.

Rob

Adder Kiss!

Do you like snakes? If yes then this video is a must see for you.

I have included information throughout, but here is a brief description of events.

I always take my Canon SLR and video camera while surveying as I like to record my sightings in this way as well as by notes. On this occasion I decided to film this male adder as he was preparing to slough (shed his skin) and when they are in this state, it is easier to get close up footage. However, what I didn't anticipate is that he would actually approach me and as I was lying on the ground, supporting my camera with my elbows on the ground, I had to make a hasty retreat!

Basically his vision was impaired and he probably picked up on the heat coming from my camera and my hands.

Anyway, watch the video  and let me know what you think.

Rob

Ward's Wildlife Scrapped

If you live in the Forest of Dean / Wye Valley area then you will probably get the Forest and Wye Valley Review newspaper.
For over a year I have been writing a column called Ward's Wildlife for this newspaper, highlighting wildlife in the area, while also highlighting any issues surrounding it. I have also used this column to help generate volunteers for Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust; once recruiting more than a dozen new volunteers with just one feature.
The new editor, Mark Elson has taken the decision to scrap this column, much to my disgust as he "failed" to tell his readers that it was "his" decision to scrap it, not mine.

I now have no way of letting people know that it was not my decision to stop writing for this newspaper, so if you read this and know anyone who enjoyed this column, please let them know that I am still out there doing my thing and if they wish to see my column reinstated, they can contact the person responsible at this email address.
Mark Elson:  revieweditor@tindlenews.co.uk 

Anyway, enough of that as I have some photographs to show you from the last couple of weeks, walking around the forest. With all this heat and with my usual trick of finding myself in the middle of the forest with no water and severe dehydration, it's a wonder I made it back out!

A couple of wild boars

This little one has come a long way just to have his photograph taken!

Then mum came up for a portrait. However, she didn't look her best!

A couple of birds

I love photographing jays and love their striking colours.

Canada goslings having a rest.

Hare today, gone in a flash!

The rare one

This is a very rare Great Crested Newt and I found a breeding colony in a pond, deep in the forest. Fantastic and great news for these very rare and protected amphibians.