Tag Archives: Ranger

Creature Feature: Palmate Newt

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Palmate newt (Howard Inns)

THE PALMATE NEWT Lissotriton helveticus is the smallest of our three British newts, measuring 8 – 9 cm from nose to tail.  They are found throughout Britain, on heaths and moors, in ponds and ditches in woodland and grassland, and sometimes garden ponds, preferring slightly acidic shallow ponds for breeding.

Newts have long, slender bodies and are frequently mistaken for lizards.  If you are lucky enough to get close to one, you should see it has 4 clawless toes on its front feet, whereas lizards have 5 toes with long claws.  If it scurries off too quickly to let you count its toes, it’s probably a lizard!

Male palmate newts are olive-brown with patches of darker colours and well-defined dark spots; during the breeding season (February to July) they develop a low crest along their back, a thin hair-like filament at the end of their tail and fringed webbing between the toes of their back feet, (which look like dark gloves, hence the name ‘palmate’ newt).  Females are larger, yellowish or olive-brown, with dark speckling and can be difficult to tell apart from the females of the smooth newt.  However, the throat of the palmate newt is plain pink or orange, whereas the smooth newt is spotted.  Both sexes have orange bellies.

Palmate newts usually hibernate on land in dense leaf litter, log piles or compost heaps, but some young adults hibernate in the mud of their breeding ponds.  They emerge during February and courtship and breeding takes place at a suitable pond from March to June.  The elaborate courtship display is fascinating to see: the male swims ahead of the female, fanning his tail vigorously and displaying his crest, all the time wafting scent pheromones towards her.  If she is suitably impressed he deposits a parcel of sperm which she takes up to fertilise her eggs.  She carefully lays a few of her 200-300 eggs every day on aquatic plants over a few weeks.  When the newt tadpoles or ‘efts’ emerge they have a fringe of external gills on the back of their head.  They take a couple of months to metamorphose to air-breathing juveniles and spend a couple more on land before hibernating.  After breeding, the males absorb their wavy crests and tail filaments.

Whilst on land palmate newts eat small invertebrates (insects, worms, snails, slugs), often flicking out their tongue to catch their prey.  In water they eat water snails, frog tadpoles and the larvae of invertebrates such as dragonflies and mayflies, catching their prey in their teeth.  They are quite tolerant of dry conditions and can stray a long way from water outside the breeding season.

Adult palmates are taken by fish, great crested newts and water-birds such as herons, ducks and kingfishers.  Efts can be eaten by larger newts, frogs, toads and larger dragonfly and beetle larvae.  To make your garden pond attractive to palmate newts, provide plenty of native aquatic vegetation for egg-laying and suitable shelter and hibernation sites by having rockeries, log piles or a compost heap, and don’t stock it with fish!

Newt facts:

  • Newts are silent in contrast to frogs and toads.
  • Of all amphibians, newts most closely resemble the earliest fossil amphibians, the earliest animals to have adapted to life on land.
  • Many species of newt have poison glands in their skin for protection from predators.
  • Newts have impressive regeneration capabilities; they can re-grow limbs if they are amputated, repair their heart tissue if it becomes damaged and re-grow their retinas!

Fiona Haynes: SWT Ranger (South Team)

Signs of Spring

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Brimstone (James Adler)

THE FIRST SIGNS OF SPRING are showing on our sites, and it is time for most of the scrub clearance and tree work to come to an end for this season.

On heathlands the first ground nesting birds have been spotted arriving, and are starting to stake out their territories and hopefully picking out their nesting spots. Woodlark can be heard singing on some of the open heaths which, on the rare sunny days we have had, makes it feel very spring like.

Work in the open areas of the heaths usually finishes earlier than that in the woodlands as these birds arrive earlier, but soon the trees will be bursting into leaf and a whole lot of nesting will be going on all over all our sites.

The heathland birds like nightjars, woodlarks, and lapwings chose to make their nests in shallow depressions on the ground, and so are very vulnerable to disturbance. This is why you will see signs up on some of our heaths asking for your help in keeping your dogs on the paths and off the open heath and grass areas. It is only for a few months, and gives these birds the best chance to breed successfully.

While out on a site, as well as listening for the woodlark, keep an eye out for Brimstone butterflies fluttering past. They have been spotted out already, as have a few dusty looking Red Admirals. Hopefully this year there will be enough sun and dry weather to help build up butterfly numbers again after the huge decline last summer. Some lazy lizards have also been seen soaking up the sun on the few warm days, and they will gradually increase as the temperature warms up.

On the woodland edges, lords and ladies has been appearing for a while, and has now been joined by the lovely sunny faces of the lesser celandine and daffodils. If you look closely under the trees the first bluebell leaves can be spotted pushing through the ground. The buds on the trees are starting to swell, and some like the hawthorn and elder have begun bursting (slowly) into leaf. Soon there will be a haze of bright green covering the countryside.

It is a bit early for the heather to think of coming out on the heaths, but a lot of the gorse bushes are blooming and creating bright yellow patches in a still somber landscape. This is an exciting time of year to be out and about – as well as never knowing what weather you will be facing on day to the next – you also never know what you will spot blossoming, blooming or flying past.

Jill Titlestad: Assistant Ranger (North Team)

Celebrating Hedges: Hedgerow Week 2013

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Hedges support up to 80% of our woodland birds, 50% of our mammals and 30% of our butterflies! The open banks and ditches are a big draw for reptiles, frogs, toads and newts, and are great for flowering plants. They also provide food and shelter for many species and are essential ‘corridors’, along which wildlife can safely travel from one area to another.

The Trust works hard to conserve, protect and replace the county’s hedges, and this year we organised a whole week of events  from the 4th – 10th February to get the public involved.

After popping in to Pirbright head office on Monday to load the van, fill up the flasks with hot water and pick up the volunteers who had braved the bitter conditions to help out, we set off for Longdown Road in Guildford. We would be working with the The Rosamund Trust, a local community group who have a land share project on the side of the hill overlooking Guildford.

Upon arrival we unloaded the van and met up with John Banister from Transition Guildford. As we strolled across the site we startled a pair of Roe Deer, which bounded across the fields ahead of us.

The lower field is being prepared for a tree planting session in March. The Sheeting laid down to suppress the weeds had lifted in the wind so we re-pegged it and headed back to the top field where photographer from the Surrey Times had been waiting patiently for us. We did a quick photo shoot with the volunteers and then got on with the job of cutting the grass and removing weeds from around the trees, which were planted in the autumn of 2011.

There was a bitterly cold wind blowing on the top of the hill, so after an hour or so of hard work we took shelter in the poly tunnel used by The Rosamund Trust to grow vegetables. At this time of year the young broad beans were just poking up through the soil.

After a warming cup of tea we got back to work and carried on weeding. Each tree guard was removed and the trees checked. Of 200 trees planted only 2 trees had died – a remarkable success rate!

On Thursday I drove over to see Steve Bailey at the Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership as he had kindly offered us some trees for Saturdays practical. There were 70 trees in all, a nice mixture of Blackthorn, Hawthorn, Crab apple, Birch, Rose, Rowan, Field Maple and Oak.  To make up the number of trees we dug up some remaining trees from our tree nursery in Pirbright and SWT Ranger Fiona kindly drove over to Hambledon to pick up the stakes and binders for the hedge.

The next day we gathered at Furzefield Wood in Merstham, to build a dead hedge on the boundary of the wood along Radstock Way. It was a sunny day, but bitterly cold and our hands were numb by the time we had finished unloading the vans. The paths were also very muddy after all the recent rain and we were soon covered in mud too!  After a tool talk, Wetland Landscapes Officer Jim Jones demonstrated how to build the hedge and the 10 volunteers and Surrey Wildlife Trust staff got going. The hedge soon took shape, and what a difference it made to the entrance of the site.

Come Saturday morning it was snowing heavily as we set off for Runfold Wood in Farnham. Jim’s van got stuck in the mud and all hands were needed to push him out!  Despite the snow, many volunteers from Moor Park Residents Association, Crooksbury Residents Association,  Runfold Action Group, The Bourne Conservation Group and parents and children from Barfield School were on hand to help.

Jim and Fiona took a group and got started with hedge laying along the edge of the wood. We were lucky to have some experienced hedge layers as well as complete novices, with several staff members from SITA helping out.  Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves despite the winter weather!

I led a group of parents and children to plant the trees and extend the hedgerow. The Blackwater valley Partnership, SWT and a local resident kindly donated a number of trees and in no time they were planted and the new hedge created.

It was great to see so many enthusiastic people turn up on a cold Saturday morning.  The new laid hedge looks fantastic and will let more light into the wood and improve the habitat for Dormice. The new trees were planted to extend the hedgerow and form an important refuge and wildlife corridor. It is amazing what can be achieved when organisations and the local community work together.”

If you are interested in volunteering, call our volunteer Development Officer on 01483 795464 or email anna.fosbery@surreywt.org.uk.

Frances Halstead: SWT Environmental Groups Support Officer

Blindley Heath: Adopting a New Nature Reserve

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Blindley Heath (Bob Crompton)

SURREY WILDLIFE TRUST now manages 26 hectares of Blindley Heath on behalf of Godstone Parish Council, under a 25-year management agreement. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Local Nature Reserve and registered Common land.

Often described as “the best known example of a relict damp grassland on Weald Clay in Surrey”, the site was in fact quite dry when I first visited, but as many were to assure me, that was soon to change!

Work has commenced with much enthusiasm and plenty of support from Godstone Parish Council and local residents. The common has been managed in the past with the help of Paul Newdick from Tandridge District Council and the Trust has inherited an active Higher level Stewardship Agreement which enabled the core of the common to be stock fenced into two grazing blocks, an area of scrub clearance and pond management. The site has been monitored with the help of Anne Sankey, Gwyneth Foulkes and many others from the Surrey Botanical Society, so we have a good ecological database as a foundation to build on.

The potential difficulty of establishing a grazing scheme has been avoided as a group of young cattle have been grazing the common for many years courtesy of Mr and Mrs Mills from Lingfield. They are very supportive and we are of course very grateful for their help and friendly input.

A Liaison Group comprising of Godstone Parish Councillors and Clerk, local residents and graziers help guide our work, and we have a complete Ten-Year Management Plan, which has been approved by the Liaison Group and Natural England.

David Millen – the Voluntary Warden at Bay Pond and Graeme Hendrey Wood – lives in Blindley Heath village and has agreed to add the common to his portfolio of sites. We now have the assistance of him and his Tandridge area Volunteers on site on a regular basis!

Tree and re-growth clearance on the open heath and management in the woodland periphery has been undertaken over the last two winters by the SWT Land Management Team, SWT East Team, Richmond Conservation Volunteers, UK Power Networks (on a Corporate Day) and the SWT Wednesday volunteers.

There are big plans for the future of the site, with an official launch in the spring. The Trust will also be carrying out guided walks, a community firewood day, installing and repairing stiles and kissing gates, controlling invasive saplings and re-growth, managing rush on the grassland, carrying out ecological surveys, monitoring and generally enjoying a wonderful site in a friendly corner of Surrey.

It is also very handy for Lingfield racecourse if that floats your boat (quite literally as yes, I can testify, it is very, very wet!!).

SWT Ranger (East Area Team) Bob Crompton

Behind The Scenes: The Life Of A Volunteer Ranger

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SWT Trainee Volunteer Ranger Andy

BEING A VOLUNTEER TRAINEE RANGER (VTR) has given me a behind the scenes insight into the important work that goes on at SWT. There’s always something different to do and it’s really satisfying to know that you can directly impact some of Surrey’s rarest habitats and creatures. On a typical day I might help to check the grazing animals, patrol the car parks around Chobham, talk with locals, coppice woodland, or remove scrub which is encroaching on the valuable open heathland.

My main interests lie in heathland management and restoration and I’ve had the opportunity to observe several different management techniques. Over the summer I helped to install the grazing fences and it was great to see the whole process from start to finish. Although the cattle weren’t on for long this year, we all enjoyed their presence on the landscape and began to see a reduction in the coarse grasses they were targeting. I’ve also been lucky to help with other management tasks such as removing encroaching scrub, pine and birch along with heather cutting and creating bare ground. The aims of all of these are to prevent succession to woodland and restore the heathland to its former glory and extent.  Other tasks have included shadowing rangers whilst surveying the vivid sapphire Marsh Gentians (Gentiana pneumonanthe) and checking areas for diminutive Harvest Mice (Micromys minutus).

Quite often the Trust works with other organisations in order to share their expertise and gain valuable information about the reserves. An example of this was when I recently had the opportunity to show a student from the University of Surrey around the reserves for her PHD Thesis.  Without giving too much away, the project involved taking soil samples to look at how certain bacteria grow in natural environments. The results of the project may help to improve future experiments studying how bacterial pollution can spread along rivers. Another bonus of this project was that the Trust procured some interesting soil data which will aid future management of the reserves.

In December the Trust kindly funded all the VTR’s to go on a Chainsaw course set in a frosty Beech woodland in West Sussex. We spent 5 days learning various cuts and how to take down trees without them falling on our (or anyone else’s) heads! It was physically exhausting, but really interesting to find out how to approach the myriad of different tree shapes and sizes. It may sound strange that Rangers would be cutting down trees rather than protecting them, but we only usually only do so to restore open landscapes or to remove trees that are dangerous to the public.

Through being a VTR, I’ve had the opportunity to follow my own interests and ask the Rangers lots of questions about the reserves that will be really useful for my future career. I’ve also taken on new responsibilities such as leading my first Volunteer work party and helping out with festive activities such as finding wild Christmas trees and making wreaths from the heath! It’s brilliant spending your time with enthusiastic co-workers and volunteers who have a like-minded appreciation for the outdoors and nature. I’m really looking forward to the spring, when everything will burst into life on the reserves and there’ll be plenty of opportunity to appreciate the fruits of all our hard work over the winter.

Andy Jennings-Giles

Grazing Team: James Herd

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AS A RANGER WITH THE GRAZING TEAM my role is pretty diverse. One day I can be leading a guided walk or doing habitat management work, the next I can be moving and vaccinating cattle. I’ve been with Surrey Wildlife Trust for nearly 3 years now and it’s this diversity within my job that makes it so rewarding.

As far as the cattle are concerned things are starting to settle down at this time of year. We’ve had 55 calves this year, taking the herd up to a total of 282 animals. Most of the herd are on sites where they will spend the rest of the summer. In Surrey these predominantly tend to be heathland sites where they are used to control the rank grasses such as Purple Moor Grass, as well as make some impact on silver birch scrub. This allows some of the more delicate native heathland flora to establish and thrive and in turn support other biodiversity.

With my ranger hat on I’ve started doing more survey work. I look after Barossa and Poors Allotment, a 550ha heathland site on the edge of Camberley. Survey work here has included reptiles, birds, invertebrates and orchids. I also recently ran a very successful nightjar walk where we heard the male birds churring as well as good views of cuckoo and woodcock.

We’ll be keeping you updated with goings on within the grazing team on a regular basis so keep checking back here for more information.

James