RAUK - Archived Forum - north staffs groups?

 hi all, i a new mamber here, and was hoping that someone here might be involved in the north staffs/cheshire area. I am looking to expand my surveying/conserving and restoration skills. I have been working in consultancy (yes i know some of you wont like me now) for going on 4 years and hold a GCN licence. Which having read other posts i feel oblidged to point out i have spent 3 years doing surveys and courses before applying for and certainly do not think that this makes me any type of expert, although i would like to think profficient.

Anyhow, thats why im here to learn, every day is a school day after all!

Sorry a bit of a convoluted post. So if there are people in staffs out there that are part of a herpie group id love to know about them. thank you

Cor blimey another one of those consultant types trying to mussle in on the herp conservation world........

Only kidding I think that there is quite a bit of activity in Cheshire and I believe that there are some people up there that want to look into local adders in Staffordshire - I met up with Mark O Shea a month or so ago and he wanted to get these people involved with the make the adder count project -

First port of call would be the local group part of the froglife website www.froglife.org

Hear from ya soon

JC 

Yeah i have already been on the froglife, and searched as much as i can to find a specific staffs group. Just seems to be that there has been a group in planning and been trying to set one up for a while, thats why i thought there might have been some talk. Im waiting on the wildlife trust too, to see if they have any info. Cant see why there wouldnt be interest around here there cresties about and i hear tell of adders..

Nice to get my first reply though

cheers

I will let you know of anything happening in the area for next year - I suspect there will be some adder monitoring surveys on national trust land - I will let you know

JC

Ah yes very good point Mr Brady, (being extra polite as ive already read some of your posts regarding consultants)

The adder monitoring sounds just the ticket to, thanks JC.

Its all very appreciated.

If there are active people up here i was wondering about having a little talk about some projects that have been going on around here, most notably the re-grading and destruction of a lovely old piece of farm land stuffed with cresties (i did see evidence of fences and pits so assume they were translocated, but have not seen any replacement habbitat).

Ok probably best for me to stop there before i get into a rant...the land was my familys old farm.. Compulsarily purchased years back

sigh....

Ah yes very good point Mr Brady, (being extra
polite
as ive already read some of your posts regarding consultants)

Oh i see, like that is it Doc.... i mean you come in and try your best.....

Seriously though you have a point, which is one of the reasons that i want to be involved from the other side if you want to look at it like that. And theres nothing wrong with a bit of in-industry quality control

Im just keen to be involved with people who "know better than me" and hope that it can be reciprocal with me being able to offer something back in terms of useful time and so on. Doesnt sound to unlikely does it?

Tim

I think I should rename the site RACUK? Can't come on here these days without falling over consultants .

I'm sure 'Doc Brady' (oh yes I like that) and others truly welcome your input Tim, as RAUK was created to stimulate discussion amongst conservationists, consultants and anyone with an interest in our native herpetofauna

PS welcome to RA(C)UK Tim from the admin.

it happens to be the case that many people who were in the ARG's in the 1990's have now taken up consultant roles - myself included - ARG's have many consultants in their ranks which is a pretty obvious situation considering the lack of action for herps from other groups and organisations in nature conservation and the environmental consultancy field -

the skill base I hope is growing amongst us and that new projects are on the horizon which will help herpetofauna all over the UK - NARRS for instance

JC

Im quite chuffed for a relatively slow moving forum i seem to have achieved quite a little thread here

See you love us 'Doc (that is so going to stick)

While im here i was pondering on the best way of building hibernaculumn (never could spell that) i have had a bit of a search around on the site and other sources and have been involved in making a few etc etc. but any tips would be good. Also how different do you make them for different species or can you not really specify them? (i wouldnt of thought you could but it might be interesting to try). Im now thinking is bigger better ie a 8m long bund or would two 4m seperate items be preferable, how much vegetation/compost might be considered normal. To be honest ive really used what was in the area before now, so some are mainly slate and wood others more varied...

Well a very nice profile pic indeed. RAUK slow moving? Ah hibernation time. Wait till the adders are back out in the spring and the piccies start to come in.

Hibernacula/hibernaculum, good design.. mmmmm I could upset a few people on this one. Firstly many that are put in by consultants for mitigation purposes are (in my opinion, all ways best to put that eh) too small and won't actually last very long once the weather gets at them. Even log and brash piles shrink considerably over just a few seasons, and this should be born in mind when constructing them.

My preference if for hardcore base, followed with large amounts of logs and brash (note not 'brush' but brash) then **almost** entirely capped with soil (we need to leave some spaces for the animals to get in, but not much of the core material exposed to ensure good insulation).

Though of course it may all depend on what is available in-situ. I would be quite comfortable with constructing a hibernation bund 6ft high and over 20ft long, huge compared to most I've seen placed for mitigation purposes, but much more representative of natural hibernation bunds I've identified. Though again this may or may not be possible depending on the situation, client, cost... etc etc..

I would tweek the positioning of the bund depending if it was amphibian or reptile orientated, and would add a good amount of leaf litter to an amphibian orientated bund.

Regarding the widespread reptiles, I've very often observed N.n, V.b, L.v and A.f emerge from the same hibernation bund.. so I guess they all pretty much seek the same conditions.

Tim

Going back to the original thread of your inquiry:-

I've just done a report for the Peak National Park on the distribution of adders in the National Park, as together with other recorders we have carried out the most detailed survey for 10 years on the Eastern Moors (in Derbyshire). However also reviewed the other areas in the Park and after checking with the Staffs records centre found no one seems to have properly checked the area of the South West Peak in North Staffs for adders since they were last reported nearly 30 years ago. The Peak Park assumes that they are extinct but the area needs a decent survey in the early spring on the lines of the Make the Adder Count survey.

I am planning to go out there sometime in March (weather permitting) let me know if you are interested

Hi and thanks for the reply gemma,

Seems a daft question but when you say brash rather than brush..? i was under the impression that brash was small cuttings and twigs and even reasonable sized branches.. infact not unlike brush?!? Think i might not quite have that right but basically we are talkin vegatative matter which will halp to keep channels and passages open in the hibenaculum, exposing more as they rot back, not to mention the added insulation and temperature increase associated with rotting.

Ive always though that using the turf from the area you dug the hole for the hibernacula to 'cap' it was a spiffing idea. Leaves a nice gap at the ground level for entry exit etc.

Right Chris, im definately interested, although work commitments will leave me free only on weekends would certainly be worth a contact nearer the time. What are your views about non experienced singnificant others..? Might be a 'tag-allong' requiremnt  especially if the weather is good.

Thanks a lot for telling me about this though chris.

Ok another one for chris, from what i gather the make adders count was based on having a prior knowlage of a population in an area and more of a monitoring consept. Well just to be apsolutely clear about this i dont have any idea of adder 'spots' here..in my own back yard...god thats embarresing when you get to write it down.

Am still interested though!

I specified 'brash' as is often the case people consider it the same as 'brush'. You are right of course with the definitions, however in practice a 30cm high pile of brush with a maximum diameter of ~1cm passing itself off as an artificial 'hibernaculum' is a very different beast to a 2m mound of brash made of a mixture of substantial branches right down to tiny twigs.

Capping is an issue I would like to address. In my opinion it is advisable to cap most of the hibernaculum to ground level, leaving only small exposed areas of the core material. This isn't the classic idea of a hibernation bund that I have seen illustrated. Experience has shown that when the cap soil material is simply piled on top of the core material to leave a large all round gap at the bottom, drainage of the cap is so severe that only poor vegetation growth occurs, this doesn't help to stabilise the cap. Weather erosion of the cap becomes a problem, both due to poor stabilisation and the simple mechanics of a cap that is not continuous to ground level.

So, in my view, a finished hibernation bund should be *almost* entirely covered with soil right down to ground level, with just a few openings for animals to enter the bund. This is also has the benefit of disguising the feature and allowing it to merge with the landscape more readily in many circumstances.