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Fylde Coast Viviparous: |
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Ray999 Senior Member Joined: 07 Mar 2006 No. of posts: 101  View other posts by Ray999 |
Posted: 22 May 2006 I would first like to congratulate anyone who has put a picture on this site.It has taken me 4 weeks and 3 digi cameras to get this selection of pics and I'm not best pleased with any of them.They were taken on two sites on the Fylde Coast.On one visit to Fleetwood I saw 18 in about an hour,not sure if this is a good amount or not.Of the 18, 14 were youngsters and 4 were adults.The adults had all lost their tails at some point.There are no cats or pheasants in the area but there are Kestrels about.
ray999 |
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John Newton Senior Member Joined: 19 May 2005 No. of posts: 151  View other posts by John Newton |
Posted: 22 May 2006 Hi Ray Nice piccies of Common lizard from the Fylde coast, showing fairly typical colouration for both the males/females and the last immature male. Both of the larger females show signs of possibly being gravid (or well fed!) Seems to be a typical mix of habitat, ranging from field edge/fence posts, to what looks like fixed dune with some marram/dewberry component. It will be getting more difficult now for a close approach technique, unless early morning trips are planned, or for intermittent sunshine on one of those cooler days. It will be very useful to keep an accurate record of sightings for common lizard on this coast, since they tend to be under-recorded - for mark-up purposes, there are some fairly decent aerials of the St Annes dunes on Google Earth which can be suitably covered with 'dots'. Records can be sent to either the Amphibian and Reptile Group of South Lancashire argsl@btinternet.com, North Merseyside ARG patipping@hotmail.com , or myself jrn_home@btopenworld.com I'm not sure where the geographical 'ARG' demarcation lies for the Fylde, but never mind. Cheers John John Newton South Yorkshire ARG |
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Suzi Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 No. of posts: 860 View other posts by Suzi |
Posted: 23 May 2006 Nice pix Ray. I have only had one pic put on here and I had to ask Gemma to do it! Suz |
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Suzi Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 No. of posts: 860 View other posts by Suzi |
Posted: 23 May 2006 ...also have you ever ventured over the Wyre and had a look round Knott End? I've not seen lizards there but there are great crested newts in the dykes and ponds. Suz |
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Ray999 Senior Member Joined: 07 Mar 2006 No. of posts: 101 View other posts by Ray999 |
Posted: 23 May 2006 Hi Suzi I 've not been looking over Wyre yet, once I go over the bridge I get lost, any further than The shard Bridge Inn and I have had it. I am going to try and start keeping records of what I see and where so I will definately be looking over there soon.The last time I saw a dyke over there there was a car stuck in it,(boy racers),but I will also keep my eyes open for our amphibian friends Cheers Ray ray999 |
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Ray999 Senior Member Joined: 07 Mar 2006 No. of posts: 101 View other posts by Ray999 |
Posted: 01 Jun 2006 Hi, In trying to locate new sites I have just checked out the perfect place.Air temp 15 degs,slightly overcast with sunny spells,reasonable breeze but not too strong.A dissused stretch of railway,built about 50 years ago but not used for at least 15 years.southwestish facing,built on hardcore,overgrown in places with ferns, honeksuckle, brambles etc, but also large open spaces.a nice mixture of steel railway lines wooden sleepers, most painted with black bitumen concrete sleepers and various types of garden waste and debris.A dyke running beside the line with some water present,and no regular visits from man. I walked for about 2 miles and as you can guess I found nothing but a couple of common frogs,I do love our amphibian friends but I was hoping for a lot more,not quite so perfect after all,so frustrating.The railway does run along the back of some houses so there are probabaly cats about but I didn,t come accross any. Never mind try again. Does anyone know what else I may find up here (herp wise) apart from common lizards. If anyone was looking for sites to relocate any herps, To my amateur eye this looks like a good spot. Anyway onwards and upwards . Ray ray999 |
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Ray999 Senior Member Joined: 07 Mar 2006 No. of posts: 101 View other posts by Ray999 |
Posted: 12 Jun 2006 Well Gemma you were right about the weather,It rained all morning up until 12.00ish.At lunchtime it was just starting to clear with a little hazy sunshine so I thought I would try the disused railway again as it is not far from my work.The first half hour was a waste of time but just as I was about to pack it in I noticed the first Common Lizard.I saw 8 in total in about 20mins In what I think is a new location I have not heard it mentioned before,but still waiting for my next species,I thought I might have seen some sloworms by now at least.
this poor girl was pretty gravid and found it hard to run away cheers Ray.
ray999 |
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GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090  View other posts by GemmaJF |
Posted: 12 Jun 2006 Hi Ray, I would strongly advise using artificial cover objects for detecting slow-worms, the majority of my sightings of the species in a given season are under cover objects with a few chance sightings of only partially visible animals in the spring whilst recording emerging adder. I have sometimes seen gravid females openly bask after rain in the summer months but this has been almost exclusively at heathland sites. If you can get hold of some corrugated bitumen approximately 0.5m square and get permission to deploy it at the site, you will stand a far better chance of detecting slow-worms. Traditional tins and flat roofing felts also work OK. Corrugated bitumen gives excellent results for both common lizards and slow-worms in my experience, with lizards often being recorded easily whilst sat on the top surface, slow-worms being found exclusively under the objects. Can't wait for some rain here in Essex, not seen any of our garden common lizards for days now Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant |
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Suzi Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 No. of posts: 860 View other posts by Suzi |
Posted: 13 Jun 2006 I have a known population of slow worms in my garden - at least 30 - and I have never seen one out in the open. They are usually in my compost bins basking under the lids on top of the compost or under black plastic sheets on my larger compost heaps. My husband dug one up (unharmed!) the other day and occasionally we do find them between the clods of clay underground. I have even been out at night looking and never seen one. So, yes, I'd agree with Gemma they are best located underneath things. Suz |
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Ray999 Senior Member Joined: 07 Mar 2006 No. of posts: 101 View other posts by Ray999 |
Posted: 13 Jun 2006 Hi I have been checking under pieces of wood and plastic sheets etc but so far have not seen any slow worms.I think time has played it's part but I can remember finding them a lot easier when I was a youngster.When I went to Portland bill earlier in the year I saw 3 sunbathing patially covered in grass / brambles mind you there were a lot more of everything there.I will have to start adding to the artificial covers that are about. Cheers Ray ray999 |
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GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090 View other posts by GemmaJF |
Posted: 13 Jun 2006 One thing with slow-worms Ray is that they can be a bit patchy in their distribution. You can survey a site and find really high densities and at another apparently suitable site they are at low density or apparently absent. Artificial cover objects at say a density of 10-20 per hectare will give an idea of which might be the case at a given site. Often it is a good idea to place some of the objects in fairly dense vegetation such as nettles etc as this sort of area may be favoured by slow-worms. Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant |
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Ray999 Senior Member Joined: 07 Mar 2006 No. of posts: 101 View other posts by Ray999 |
Posted: 27 Jun 2006 Hi went out looking at lunchtime today on disused railway,temp was about 18 deg overcast skies with the odd glimpse of the sun.Left arm was still a little sore,went out herp hunting on Saturday saw nothing but got a little nip from some unseen insect probably a horse fly,arm and hand swelled up badly and ended up going to the emergency walk in centre Sunday morning for antibiotics and today kept being mobbed by a pair of seagulls, par for the course I suppose ,anyway after a while saw 5 commons.I think I identified at least 2 as being female but neither were gravid, does this mean they may have given birth by now and if so when am I likley to start seeing some young.Also they seem quite content to stay out on objects when there is complete cloud cover,are they just waiting in hope or are they still able to extract heat from the hidden sun On another point talking about ACO's.If they are put in area's where they will attract say sloworms in more concentrated numbers than you may normally expect purely because they like to be under that type of cover are you getting a distorted impression of how many there might be in that area or will the presence of ACO's actually increase the population.Also is there a proven method of establishing the population of any given species of Herps.I have started placing some ACO's about but no luck with the sloworms yet I also think in some areas someone is tiding up behind me (spoilsport). Anyway enough questions for now Ray
ray999 |
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Suzi Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 No. of posts: 860 View other posts by Suzi |
Posted: 27 Jun 2006 I would think Ray that covers will attract slow worms. From how large an area I wouldn't like to say. It takes quite a few weeks usually before you find herps under covers. There was a formula and discussion on these forums once on estimating local populations from what you found under covers. Suz |
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GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090 View other posts by GemmaJF |
Posted: 27 Jun 2006 Hi Ray, Some good points there, (Horseflies, don't you just hate them, have had the arm swelling experience also) Firstly, I don't think placing ACOs for survey purposes (say for a season) is going to have a marked affect on population dynamics, in my experience you are only getting a glimpse of the actual population as many will not be using ACOs when you check on any given day. Your only likely to be seeing animals that are on the site but that would be otherwise difficult to detect. Sometimes you get very many under an object, I guess in this case there is localised concentration of the population but we are talking here in terms of animals that would have been only a few meters from the object in any case. ACOs work best in overcast, we recorded 56 slow-worms today due to the 100% overcast in Kent (+ 10 common lizards and a couple of adder) the objects absorb radiated heat when the sun is hidden behind cloud. On days like today cover objects act like a reptile magnet as they are warmer than the surroundings but not hot enough for the animals to quite reach their operating temperature, so it is possible to get big counts in these conditions, especially after rain. Regarding population estimates, you can get useful results from RELATIVE estimates, see Froglife advice sheet No. 10. If you really want an actual population estimate you are looking at, mark/recapture (mark could also be photo ID) and a bit of maths. I've found the values given in the Froglife sheet useful for obtaining relative population estimates for slow-worms and common lizard, not so great for snakes though. Not seen any newborn common lizards yet this season, but plenty of heavily gravid females around in Essex/Kent at the moment. Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant |
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Ray999 Senior Member Joined: 07 Mar 2006 No. of posts: 101 View other posts by Ray999 |
Posted: 01 Aug 2006 Hi, The weather was not too clever today heavy rain on and off all day, the odd sight of the sun but very windy and about 18 degs.It started to clear up a little on the way home from work so I thought I would try this site I had visited once before.I wasn't sure if I may find anything here because the ground seems to stay very wet.I had been out for about half an hour but didn't think there was much chance of finding anything because of the wind.Then on an old tyre (the old favorites) I saw my first newbies, CL's, for about 30 years.There were 2, one was very black with quite a stumpy tail and the other was about 10mm longer but with quite a nice colour to it light brown/ green,I am assuming this one was a little older.I had forgotten how small and fragile looking they are. This is the third new sight I have found so far this year for CL's, still waiting for my next species. Is this the first sighting this year of a baby common? this was the one occasion I didn't take my camera will have another look tomorrow weather permiting. Ray
ray999 |
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GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090 View other posts by GemmaJF |
Posted: 02 Aug 2006 Hi Ray, we had our first baby common lizard today in the garden, looked like it may have been born a week or so ago but with the recent hot weather they are only just beginning to show again. This is the first neonate we have had in the garden so it was very exciting to see it on a tyre with mum today  Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant |
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Suzi Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 No. of posts: 860 View other posts by Suzi |
Posted: 02 Aug 2006 24th July was the start of seeing young common lizards in East Devon on various heaths. I'd been out on the heaths every day for 3 weeks up to 29th and after 24th was seeing them every day. Suz |
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Ray999 Senior Member Joined: 07 Mar 2006 No. of posts: 101 View other posts by Ray999 |
Posted: 12 Sep 2006 Hi Good day on Saturday for cl spotting on Fleetwood golf course,saw 41 in 1.5 hours.11 adults/last years babies and 30 of this years babies,but they arn,t babies anymore,they have grown so quick and must at least double their size since the end of July,also never seen so many grasshopers must be a good year this year. In the spring they reworked part of the sea defences around the course which must have killed some of them hibernating in this area, about a third of a mile long,but I havn,t been checking/keeping records until this year so I don,t know how badly they may have been effected,I will record how long it takes to recollonise this area, at the moment the vegetation has not re-established itself yet, so it won,t be this year Cheers Ray ray999 |
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Suzi Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 No. of posts: 860 View other posts by Suzi |
Posted: 12 Sep 2006 From your previous posts Ray I think you must have quite good concentrations of lizards there. I don't think I would see such numbers here in East Devon in a day never mind 1.5 hours! Don't know if you're interested in birds as well but the Fylde Birders have an excellent website updated daily and the stuff in the river and bay and on the shore thereabouts is amazing. Suz |
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Ray999 Senior Member Joined: 07 Mar 2006 No. of posts: 101 View other posts by Ray999 |
Posted: 13 Sep 2006 Hi suzi I think I was very lucky with the weather it was a good day,I went out on the Sunday to a different site and only saw one,but he was a cracker a lovely almost black and gold colour with the longest tail I have ever seen but he was too quick off the mark to get picture.He was on this disused railway line that I visit. Does anyone have any tips when searching this type of habitat, I know they can sense vibrations easily but this is hard to keep to a minimum when you are either walking on the line itself or crunching over gravel,I find I have to look further ahead when on this site than I do on others. Yes I am interested in birds as well on a very amateur basis but I am stuggling with spare time at the moment. I have been over to your brothers neck of the woods a few times but have not spotted any CLs or GKN yet. I was talking to a warden at Stannah Country park last week and he thought he had heard of slow worms over Wyre but he wasn,t sure where,have you heard of this . Cheers Ray. ray999 |
- Fylde Coast Viviparous |
