RAUK - Archived Forum - Posts by Paul Hudson:

Hi ,Most defintely an alpine newt ,a young male , Which county was it found in just out of interest ? 

Hi , Does any one on this forum have any experience of constructing an egg laying site for natrix ? I would like to know what time of year is best for construction ? best materials to use ?  size ? etc also has any one discovered a natural nest site ? surely not all animals will find compost/dung heaps .

Thanks in advance

Paul Hudson

Thanks for the info guys

Paul Hudson

Hi Agilis,

All the re-intros using current year juvs take place in September and it works a treat! I have bred over 500 young sand lizards( Merseyside )race for this project over the past 6 years.

Cheers

Paul Hudson.

What do You mean mitigating by weather? have You really got 5 years worth of experiance in these matters?

Paul Hudson

Has any one got a link for the inside out show that featured the wall lizards?

Paul Hudson

Peter wrote a very good book on British Lizards (Shire publication) ,some decent pics in there of Merseyside and Dorset sand lizards

Paul Hudson

I had a very small ,shallow garden pond years ago back in the 1980,s and one Spring following a prolonged freeze I removed over 50 dead adult frogs ,the pond was probably about 1 foot in depth ,totally useless for hibernation purposes,

However that same Spring saw dozens of clumps of spawn ,perhaps that had  come from frogs that had hibernated in deeper ponds elsewhere or in terrestrial haunts.

Paul Hudson

First male adder seen today 4 miles north of Penrith, Cumbria ,6oC sunny cloudless skies , unfortunately this site is being churned up by a herd of Highland cattle!!

Paul Hudson

What an unusual find! How big was the stone? how thick? was it on sloped or flat ground? which County? I have found common lizards in the past hibernating under paving slabs at the foot of a south facing slope at a site in north Cumbria, I would of thought with a winter as cold as the one we've just had those lizards would of perished.

Paul Hudson

I'm sure  that if having got through the winter then they would be fine and would not need to be interfered with

Paul Hudson

First frog spawn seen up here in Penrith ,Cumbria on the 14th March ,not at all late by Cumbrian standards

How deep is your pond? It may develop slowly or not at all at the bottom , last year the majority of the spawn in my pond ended up at the bottom,  (2 ft deep )and it died, I assume  that   frog activity  knocked it off the marginal shelf , if I were you I'd place it back in shallow water, providing the tadpoles haven't already started to hatch and are clinging onto the jelly, in which case moving it will result in the newly hatched tadpoles being knocked off ,and in which case they will die.

In a study by Ruth Henshaw , 1990,s ,she questioned domestic cat owners whose properties  were adjacent to sand lizard populations on Merseyside and quite a few of these people had mentioned that their cats would return home with "green Lizards" .I have also observed cats pouncing in the vegatation in areas where sand lizards occur

I wonder what that guy is up to on the far right side of the photo,It looks like you caught him in an uncompromising position!! the mind boggles!

Paul Hudson

Gravid females this late in the year? even the Cumbrian ones seemed to have all given birth by the end of July!

Paul Hudson