Amphibian Surveys

This weeks has seen more surveys being carried out under the banner of the PondNet project, with some unexpected results - new botanical site records and the potential for a local wildlife site designation!

On Bank Holiday weekend, bottle traps were set around Rothwell Country Park. Due to the number of ponds and a finite number of traps, I had to be a bit selective about where to place the traps. For logistical and practical reasons, we focused on the ponds along the southern edge of the park.  After setting the traps, we reversed the route and did a torch survey.  With recent rain and warmer temperatures I was optimistic for good results, but the water was still moderately turbid in many of the ponds. A few smooth newts were found in the evening, and several were caught in the traps that we checked early the following morning, but overall the results were disappointing and didn't give any more information about the site or increase the peak count.

Assisted by volunteers from the YWT & TCV, I carried out a first bottle trapping session at Letchmire Pastures. Conditions were again good, but when torching the ponds nothing of interest (unless you can include tadpoles and a frog) was seen. This was surprising given that I had seen smooth newts there previously. When we retrieved the traps at 7:00am the next morning just two female smooth newts were found - plus a bottle full of great diving beetles. Not a great result considering we placed nearly forty traps. We did see some lovely flowering plants whilst wandering around though. Common bird's foot trefoil and common vetch added a splash of colour to the grassy banks around the ponds. We also added two new plant species to the site list: Cuckooflower, with pale pink and white flowers in abundance so perhaps it was missed as it's an early bloomer, and a water crowfoot, which I think is Ranunculus baudotii.

On Wednesday we carried out an additional survey, a torching session at a new site. This is another local reserve, but not one covered by the PondNet project. I had seen a couple of smooth newts there whilst walking past, and there are historic records of great crested newt, so I wanted to check it out. We met at 9:00pm just as it was getting dark, and walked to the first 'pond' which is really more of a long ditch along the side of the track. There were an amazing number of smooth newts, and it took us much longer than I thought just to count the one area. We then moved onto a couple of 'proper' ponds close by. It was more difficult to torch here due to the vegetation both in and around the ponds, and very little was seen. On two occasions, there was a fleeting glimpse of something that could have been a great crested newt, but nothing that we could confidently count. I do think it is worth going back to bottle trap the ponds though, as there could be lots of interesting things hiding under the vegetation. The other positive is that the large number of smooth newts found in the first area means it would qualify for local wildlife site designation - something to take forward with the reserve manager.