RAUK - Archived Forum - Posts by Jeff:

Hi, I'm somewhat of a novice when it comes to reptiles; recently I was on a birding trip to Western Spain, accompanied by my son - who's much more in to these fascinating creatures than me. He had a European Field Guide to Reptiles and from this identified 2 different green coloured lizards that we saw in the western end of the Sierra de Gredos, near the Platforma de Gredos car park, south of Hoyas del Espino, at an altitude of around 1500 metres on May 8th. One was Schreiber's Green Lizard and the other, Green Lizard - photo below. I was struck by the blueness of the head, especially the top of the head, which was unlike the illustrations in the field guide, and would welcome any comment.

Dear Jeroen, Thanks for your reply. I've made several Google searches and from the images I've looked at I find it hard to believe that it's a Schreiber's! Could it possible be a Western Green Lizard Lacerta bilineata, which occurs in Northern Spain and may not be 100% accurate on its current range maps?

Regards, Jeff.

Hi John, thanks for your input. My son, who's the UK reptile man of our family, would like to know how many sightings you've had (at the Platforma) of Schreibers which are totally devoid of any of their usual black blodge-shaped markings and if you can supply any references which describe this possible abnormality?

Thanks in advance, Jeff.  

Hi John, since my last posting I've come accross this website (link below) which certainly shows 2 pictures of an adult male Schreiber's with much reduced black markings - so perhaps I've answered part of the question already?

Best wishes, Jeff.

http://www.lacerta.de/Seiten_Bildarchiv/Lacerta_schreiberi_Spanien_(Bilder).html

Hi again,

I've tested the link and for some reason the bracket each side of Bilder is missing. If you add these so that its _(Bilder).html then it works ok.

Jeff.

Hi John,

Many thanks for your detailed reply, I'll pass it all on to my son.

I've lived on the edge of the Somerset Levels for the past 15 years and every year, in spring and summer, I've heard very loud frog calls, almost a quacking sound, coming from several pool edges. These frogs spread from their original site, a pond on Shapwick Heath NNR, and have been readily heard on Ham Wall RSPB and adjacent Walton Heath Reserve for at least the past five years. Yesterday, July 26th, whilst searching for dragonflies along the shallow margin of Sharpham Pools, near Walton in Somerset, I heard the same loud calls and eventually located five or six small frogs lying in the shallows, one of which I managed to photograph (two images). In the past I've always been told that these are Marsh Frogs, but from my photos and a Google Image search I doubt this; it appears to more closely resemble the Edible Frog Rana kl. esculenta or Pool Frog R. lessonae. All the frogs that I saw were fairly small, about 5 or 6 cm long; presumably part grown? If you can, I would like a positive ID?

Thanks, Jeff H.

Thanks, Jon,

I'll try to get some sort of recording. If I'm successful, do you know if I can attach a recording made with Windows Sound Recorder to this thread or would I need to write it to CD and then mail it to whom?

Jeff H.

Hi Jon,

Talking of Edible Frogs breeding: from my search on the web I was led to believe that they have to interbreed with a parent species, but not so according to The Herpetoligical Conservation Trust on their website http://www.herpconstrust.org.uk/index.htm  which says that it is clearly a species in its own right as it can breed true.

Hi Jon,

Thanks for your latest info. I've been back to the site and managed to get some sort of sound recording, made with my camcorder. I've built a small website which has a short sound file embedded in it. Unfortunately Freewebs limits the "for free" file size to 750KB which equates to just 4 secs of a Windows .wav extension file, also my camcorder is fairly old and the drum-motor noise picks-up on the sound track. Anyway, please have a listen and tell me what you think?

http://www.freewebs.com/frogcalls/