A Croak About Amphibians and Reptiles

Let's Croak About Frogs

I say "croak". Firstly, obviously, frogs croak so in some ways this is one of those awful, childishly cheesy puns that you see on the front of The Sun or something. Secondly, I AM croaky. I've just finished a day of volunteering at Howletts and spoke to so many people (I'm in the education department) that I am now croaking nearly as much as the animals I'm about to talk about. It was great, though. Although there were certainly no frogs involved (Howletts doesn't look after frogs) and it's Javan primate week (there were a lot of masks of gibbons and lutungs/langurs/leaf monkeys/whatever-you-want-to call-them being made in a variety of awesome colours!), I wanted to make this post about them. 

The Golden Mantella of Madagascar, highly
endangered, taken at Paignton Zoo

Everyone knows that I absolutely adore them. They've been around longer than any mammal or bird. The vertebrate evolutionary tree goes in its most simple terms from fish to amphibians to reptiles, which then branch off into mammals and birds, so in some ways we should respect them because they're our grandparents many, many, many times removed! There's also the way that amphibians can breathe through their skin (come on, who else can do that?) and when you look at reptiles, it seems to transport you to the Cretaceous period, when dinosaurs ruled the roost. Other people seem to think the same, too- the popularity of frogs, snakes, lizards, etc, as pets shows affection for them (although I will talk about the pet trade in a bit- and for every good reason, too). 

SPECIES IN THE UK

Here in the UK, we don't have a rich varety of amphibians and reptiles. But what we do have is absolutely special. We have a lot of beautiful snakes, as well as some stranger creatures such as slow-worms and newts. I have taken many photos of these special animals in the wild, and like I did with the butterfly blog, will showcase some photos. 

ADDER AND COMMON WALL LIZARD

Ringmore, South Devon

Sorry to disturb you...

Ringmore is a beautiful, small, tranquil village on the South Devon coastline, and my family know it very well (and have got to know it even better since I've started studying in nearby Plymouth!). Nearby is a cute little cliff walk which takes you to Ayrmer Cove. If the weather's good and it's been warm, keep your eyes peeled. There are plenty of adders around the place, sunbathing on the rock piles at the side of the path. It doesn't matter how many times you see them. It never gets boring. I love the way that their blood red eyes stare at you (probably thinking "WTF!?") as you get as close to them as you dare with your camera and for a closer look (be very careful, though. Adders are our only venomous snake, so use your common sense!).

If adders aren't your thing, we've seen this adorable lizard just inches away from the snakes. The picture on the right is a common wall lizard, and like the adders, likes to take advantage of the sunshine and warmth. Quietly taking in his surroundings, he didn't seem to mind that people were crowding around the adder rather than him (and didn't even scuttle away when they turned to him, instead!). As a picture below shows, around about a half of the 20cm length of this cute lizard is taken up by tail. They're found all over Europe; thankfully (touch wood a thousand times) they appear to be doing quite well in terms of population.If you see one, again, use your common sense. They're not venomous, but don't disturb them. 

That tail <3

SLOW WORM

The White Cliffs of Dover

Not a snake, not a worm!

The slow worm is a fascinating type of reptile. It looks like a snake, but in fact it's a legless lizard! It's also much smaller than a snake, and interestingly enough also has eyelids and ear openings (which a snake does not have), which are both lizard-y features. They can live to be twenty years old, and are found in a variety of habitats, from your back garden to heath. This one was found completely by surprise. My dad and I were just walking through some woods on the cliffs, and found it on the path. It seemed totally unphased as it just slithered from one side to another, into the greenery out of sight. 

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT BRITISH REPTILES

All reptiles in the UK are legally protected. It is illegal to intentionally kill, injure, sell or to advertise to sell one. 

PALMATE NEWT AND COMMON TOAD

Mount Edgecumbe, Cornwall

Not a reptile, an amphibian

It was mid-March, and two of my university friends (Ebony and George) and I decided to go to Mount Edgecumbe for the day. It's a half an hour walk from the uni to the little ferry that takes you across the Tamar to this little treasure of a place, so in Plymouth we feel lucky to have this literally on our doorstep.
This is about the time you'll see amphibians everywhere if you know where to look, as it's mating/breeding season. In one of the gardens, there was a large pond alive with mating toads, a few newts (like the palmate one on the left- I did get a few photos of a baby, but the quality wasn't great so I won't post them) and a few dead toads. While George was busy trying to feed a robin Quavers, I was knelt at the side of the pond, snapping away at the toads and newts, grinning away to myself. I had never seen a newt that big before, or so many wild toads in one place. 

Toads will rarely be around water unless it's the mating season, during which the females lay hundreds of eggs on the weeds. After about ten days, these eggs hatch into tadpoles, which then take about two months to metamorphose onto little toadlets. The newts are commonly found in Devon and Cornwall, especially Dartmoor, due to the nutrient-poor, acidic habitat.

Cheer up, mate!

The World's Amphibians and Reptiles

A Cuban crocodile naps at Paignton Zoo.
This species is critically endangered, along
with a huge list of crocodiles,
alligators and gavials

1 IN 3 AMPHIBIANS IS CONSIDERED TO BE THREATENED WITH EXTINCTION, AS WELL AS A FIFTH OF REPTILES

When people talk about reptiles and amphibians, they may conjure up a mental image of a steamy, humid rainforest on the equator, lit up by the neon skin of the dart frogs. Why shouldn't they? That's where the majority of them live, as well as the highest diversity of such creatures. Sadly, this diversity is hugely threatened. These animals, especially amphibians, are incredibly vulnerable to climate change, pollution, habitat loss, disease and have also been the victim of the pet trade. So many have been taken for us to have as pets that it's actually harmed their populations and made them vulnerable to extinction! It's not just the pets that actually make it into the tanks that have been siezed from the wild, as the majority of the poor animals would die in transportation, whether from stress, hunger or dehydration. The pet trade has also seen the spread of the deadly Chytridiomycosis virus which has been unforgiving. Infected frogs would be released by well-meaning pet owners, who released them to the wild (obviously unknowing of the harm they were about to do), passing the disease on to the healthy population. This disease is devastating. Reptiles are also victim to the pet trade, getting caught in fishing gear (especially turtles), hunting for their skin and habitat loss. 

HOW CAN I HELP THEM?

There are several things you can do to help amphibians and reptiles around the world. 

- Never buy any genuine reptile skin products

- Unless you are 100% certain and completely and utterly of where it has come from, don't buy one as a pet (however, it should be noted that even if you buy a species from legal sources, it can still encourage illegal trade elsewhere due to demand)

- Make your garden habitable for these beauties. The RSPB has a great set of ideas here http://www.rspb.org.uk/makeahomeforwildlife/advice/gardening/reptiles_amphibians/

- Don't use pesticides and herbicides. Amphibians in particular are very sensitive to chemicals.

- If you have a pet frog, DON'T release it into the wild. You may think you're giving your croaky friend a favour, but you're not, and you're certainly not helping the wild ones. 

FURTHER READING

Cold Blood- Richard Kerridge 

http://www.savethefrogs.com/how-to-help/

http://www.amphibianark.org/the-crisis/what-can-i-do-to-help/

Butterflies, beauties of the insect world

I love a butterfly. 

There's just something about them. Perhaps it's the way that they appear to symbolise the spring and the summer? The way that they flutter around seemingly unaware of our presence? Their deadly important role in our ecosystem? The scarcity of some British species?

Whatever it is, I am absolutely fascinated by them, and can easily say that they're some of my favourite British wildlife.Yet, like a lot of things on these islands, they are in a lot of trouble, with several species in alarming decline and their ranges also declining. The reasons are varied. Loss of wildflower meadows, of which we've lost over 98% of such habitats. Pesticides and agriculture. Pollution. The usual story. But before I discuss that and what you can do to help butterflies where you live, I want to showcase some butterflies I have photographed in the UK.

Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary

Coverack, Cornwall, June 2015

Coverack is a stunning seaside village on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall. My family has been going there since before I was born, and it never really gets boring. It's beautifully quiet, and for such a small place, has a lot to offer. There's Roskilly's ice cream, the Paris Inn, the Old Lifeboat House restaurant and a variety of adorable little gift shops littered around the place. There's also plenty to offer for little adventures, too. There's Chynalls Point, for instance, which rewards you with beautiful views of the village and the sea (as well as ponies that have attempted to eat my camera straps a few times!). That's where I saw this beautiful, rare butterfly. 

The Small Pearl-Bordered Fritiallary is listed as a Priority Species by the Biodiversity Action Plan, and Butterfly Conservation (which obviously looks after British butterflies) lists it as a species with conservation priority. It's declined by over a third since the 1970s. I was pleasantly surprised to see this butterfly as we sat at Chynalls Point, taking in the magnificent view, and managed to get a fair few shots that I'm quite proud of. 

Hello, Handsome!

Those underwings <3

We also spotted a male common blue and a speckled wood. They're beautiful butterflies, but thankfully they are nearly in so much trouble as the poser above!

Male common blue

Speckled wood

Dover's Butterflies

The White Cliffs

If there's one thing that Dover does well, it's the nature reserves. There's Lydden Temple Ewell, which is home to hundreds of bee orchids. Old Park Hill, where I used to volunteer with the Kent Wildlife Trust and you can see reptiles and birds of prey (I have a fond memory of being sat around the fire in the dead of December, eating a pasta salad while talking to the other volunteers, and watching the buzzards in the distance). Samphire Hoe, created from the waste when they made the Channel Tunnel, home to skylarks, peregrines, lizards, amphibians, orchids and all sorts of other beauties. Then there's the famous White Cliffs. If it's butterflies you're after, it's butterflies you'll get. And plenty of them (just watch out for the ponies!). I may be biased, but these are truly beautiful cliffs. 

Top to bottom: Male common blue, large white, meadow brown (although a little bit is telling me it could be a gatekeeper!)

More Butterflies

Peacock butterfly, Sutton-on-the-Forest, York, April 2015

Wall brown, Jennycliff, Plymouth, May 2015

Little heath, Samphire Hoe, between Dover and Folkestone, June 2015

So...

What can I do to help, I hear you cry?

The answer: LOTS AND LOTS.

As I've already pointed out, the UK has lost over 98% of its wildflower meadows, which are vital habitats for these charming insects. There are a few plants that you could put in your garden to attract butterflies. 

- Buddleia. We have a huge buddleia plant in our back garden, and every summer it is absolutely covered in butterflies. We've seen blue, peacock, comma, tortoiseshell, red admirals and large white butterflies among others, so it is worth it. 

- Lavender

- Orregano  

To provide your newcomers with as many nectar-goodness opportunities as possible...

... don't use herbicides and pesticides. Butterflies (as well as spiders and ladybirds) are very sensitive to these harsh chemicals

... plant your flowers in a sunny yet sheltered area. Butterflies love the sun, obvs, but they need to be able to settle on the plants rather than being windswept

There is also lots of very good advice on the Butterfly Conservation website. Please check it out. 

http://butterfly-conservation.org/292/gardening.html 

Over and out! Keep them butterflies fluttering!

Sammy's Natural World

Greetings, all! :D

I'm Sam. Not a Samantha. Sam. Or if I know you well enough, I can let you call me Sammy, too. ;) I'm 20 years old and live near Dover in Kent, and have done pretty much all my life. 

Dover Castle- sometimes Dover can look good ;) 

I'm an environmental science student at the University of Plymouth. I've just finished my first year there, and I can tell you, it was incredible! I made so many good friends, love the subject, enjoy being in Plymouth and just being a student there. We're going on an expedition to the Malaysian jungle in March for a couple of weeks. I can't tell you how excited I am!

Plymouth Hoe from Mount Batten- such a great place to be a student!

The point of this blog is kind of related to the course. This is a blog about the natural world (hence "Sammy's Natural World"). It will include discussions about the latest wildlife news. I also love wildlife photography, so will post some of that, and also random ramblings of a ginger girl obsessed with the world around us. I will try not to steer into doom and gloom and rantings (although it's very hard- the latest updates to the IUCN Red List are absolutely shocking), but rather try to bring around where possible an offering of hope, of what you can do to reverse the trend of the species' plight. 

Buff-tailed bumblebee on the White Cliffs

As a vegetarian with a love for cooking, there'll also be some yummy vegetarian recipes on here, too- everything from curries to puddings and everything in between! 

I want to be a wildlife conservationist in the future, and ideally create my own wildlife conservation NGO (perhaps a bit ambitious, but a girl can dream, right?). It's difficult not to feel dismayed, disheartened and absolutely helpless at the state of the natural world. Yet sometimes, just sometimes, little jewels of hope come through from the dark, sooty cloud of doom. We know of the fact that there are forty Javan rhinos. We know that wild tiger numbers number in the very low thousands, and that the golden toad is extinct. 1 in 3 amphibians, 1 in 4 mammals, 1 in 5 reptiles, and nearly 80% of the spiders and scorpions are considered to be threatened with extinction. It's so easy to feel hopeless. Yet the same fate of extinction was nearly felt for the golden lion tamarin of Brazil, the black-footed ferret and California condor of the USA, and the Przewalski's wild horse of Central Asia. They are exceptions, of course, but we must look to those success stories if we are to win this battle to save the natural world. It's a long, difficult battle with many obstacles. But I have the tiniest glimmer of hope that one day, maybe- just maybe- we can put things right. Where there is hope, there is a way. We must not give up. And that's why I'm studying this degree. Because I believe that somewhere, hope and perseverance will lead the way.

My first "real" post will showcase some butterfly photography and some chatting on the beautiful insects and how you can help them. 

Over and out. For now.