UK Nature Blog

Common toad

Thanks to Jenny for sending in this great picture of a young Common toad. At least I assume it's young as it seems rather small in relation to the grass. It might seem surprisingly brown, but apparently that's within normal range, especially in hot weather.

I see toads extremely rarely in my neck of the woods (I can't remember the last time) so it's nice to see this picture. You may be more likely to see their spawn, as evidence of toads in the locality, which forms long strings as opposed to the clumps of frogspawn.

UKNB on tour: Madeiran lizard

Your intrepid UKNB editor has been on tour, this time to the Portuguese island of Madeira, off the coast of Morocco. Take a look at this Google map if you're not sure where I mean exactly.

One of the things I love about sunny climes such as Madeira (which was 26c by day, 21c by night) is the little lizards festooning every sun-baked stone surface, even the heart of the town. Apparently these are Madeiran wall lizards, though I'm not sure if the one pictured above is one of those specifically (as they look more like monitors, which the one above doesn't).

They tend to dart away if you get within a metre or two and are lightning quick so I assumed it would be very difficult to catch one. This YouTube video (which is nothing to do with me) shows that I was wrong!

August nature notes

A few things I've noticed of late:

• Lots of ladybirds about, especially 7-spot.
• Garden full of Gatekeeper butterflies all of a sudden, often in pairs. This is their time of year apparently.
• Slugs and snails living it up in the recent boughts of wetness (and eaten all our courgette plants) though it's still fundamentally dry out there and some plants are struggling.
• I have a large wasp's nest in the hedge - about the size of a football. I think they're Median wasps, so not the usual sort: bigger but much less agressive and bothersome. I blogged about them once before when I saw a single wasp before I discovered the nest.
• I saw a Red kite circling above the garden lower than I've seen it before - probably just 50 feet up or so. Their successful comeback seems to continue apace.
• Smooth newts are easily terrified and they just freeze. They also looks just like little lizards. I found one crawling across my decking the other night - frozen stiff at my sudden appearance. The picture above is a pair I found on a previous occasion.
• Wasps of all sorts are particularly evident now. Presumably their numbers have swelled as they built up the size of their colonies over recent months. August is traditionally a waspy time of year and before long they'll be drunk on rotten apples.

A frog in the hand...

There's nothing quite like a fresh frog. A small, young frog is just so glisteningly 'new' and jewel-like.

Nature notes - March

The natural world is springing up around us so it's an exciting time to watch it grow. Here are a few things I have noticed of late.

• Bees are out in force, both bumble and honey.
• Lacewings seem to have been particularly numerous compared to previous years. I've seen loads of them in various buildings in various parts of the country.
• I saw my first butterfly of the year: a Comma, which overwinter as adults to emerge in March.
• The lawn has received its first cut of the year (and it's second today) though my neighbours blinked first :-)
• Daffodils are everywhere, whilst snowdrops are almost completely done.
• Birds are noisily celebrating. Magpies in particular seem to be building nests as I see them flying with twigs, but I imagine many species are doing so.
• Ponds are full of frogspawn (pictured), and presumably other types of spawn.

Adder nuff

The BBC reports on a survey of UK reptiles and amphibians that suggests numbers of most are in decline. Adders, toads, lizards and pretty much everything else apart from Palmate newts are seemingly struggling since 2007 when the surveying began.

I'd illustrate this article with a picture of an adder but I'm afraid I've never seen one let along photographed one. It sounds like my chances are shrinking.

Surveying Norfolk (and other) wildlife

Norfolk Wildlife Trust have a great website with resources to help in surveying many different kinds of wildlife, from ponds to fungi. The forms are designed to be sent back to report on wildlife in Norfolk, but there's so much great information and guidance that they should be of interest to anybody.

Smooth newts pretending to be lizards

I lifted an old paving slab in the garden whilst clearing an area beside a shed and was surprised to see what looked like lizards hiding underneath it. In fact at first I thought they were curled up leaves or bits of wood that looked a bit like lizards, but it was quickly apparent that they really were live animals, though they didn't move. I went on thinking they were lizards for a while, and it was only when I tried to find out what sort of lizard that I realised they were newts - probably Smooth newts. Apparently this is a common enough mistake to make. More pictures after the break...

Turtle trouble

Laura writes in with an unusual wildlife sighting and associated question:

I am a reader of your blog and wondered if you or your readers have any advice they could offer me regarding an unusual thing I saw today. We went for a walk this morning along a stretch of (non-navigable) canal not far from our home in Nottingham. We saw the usual wildlife we often see along there - ducks, swans, coots and moorhens - but we also saw a turtle in the water. It swam up to the surface, where we saw it for a few seconds, and then it swam back down in the water and out of sight. We assume that it was perhaps once someone's pet and that they decided they no longer wanted to keep it, perhaps releasing it into the water. I have no idea how long it's been living there, or if it's in good shape. What I'm wondering is if I should report it to anyone - the local council, the RSPCA, the local Wildlife Trust? It's probably not the best place for a turtle to be living, and equally the other native species may not benefit from its presence. Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated!

Actually Laura, sightings such as this seem to be surprisingly common. A Red-eared terrapin was found in my local nature reserve a couple of years back and this was swiftly whisked away by the RSPCA. However in that case it was easily caught by the reserve wardens just after being sighted, whereas your example could be anywhere in the canal!

I suspect that it's perfectly healthy and happy apart from a lack of company. That said, maybe it does have company as Googling for "turtles in British rivers" throws up a number of stories of turtles living for decades in British waterways. Apparently lots were discarded after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle craze in the early 90s. Given that, the RSPCA might well just have to shrug their collective shoulders and explain the same tale to you, but it's as well to mention it to the local wildlife trust to ensure they're aware of their presence.

Apparently it's too cold in this country for them to breed successfully by the way, so the turtles people see in the wild in the UK are almost certainly those that have been dumped and lived on for years.

And finally (in the style of Trevor McDonald) Laura also mentions that she's seen Housemartins for the first time this year. And I don't think she was talking about a reunion gig.

Frogs mating

Rivergirl writes in with some great pictures of Frogs getting jiggy with it now that Spring has sprung. [Actually today it seems to have sprung a leak!]

That's one of her pictures above, and there are loads more in these two posts on her blog A Walk on the Wild Side, as well as educated commentary on what's actually going on.

If you have pictures, videos or exciting stories of natural goings on in the UK then do please send them along!