Herpetofaunal Habitat Management in Cambridge

Winter is the time of year in the UK when most amphibian and reptile habitat management is done. This is the case for pond work if great crested newts (Triturus cristatus) are known to inhabit an area, in order to comply with legislation. In regards to the other species, winter is a good time to…

Wildlife Friendly Gardening And Amphibians

Conservation at home aiding a global protection initiative in your own garden. Unfortunately, most of us know of the impending doom amphibians seem to be facing. For those of us who maybe don't, here is a sample of the doom which we as individuals can help change for them. Most experts in the field of…

Newt Mortalities On An Urban Cycle Path

Recently a paper I co-authored with a colleague was published in The Herpetological Bulletin, regarding smooth newt (Lissotriton vulgaris) mortalities on an urban cycle path in central Cambridge. It's well known that roads can be detrimental to amphibian populations due to collisions with cars but this is the first time that amphibian mortalities have been…

Venom Day 2016

Recently it came to that time of year again that sees me travel from one side of the country to the other. On Friday 9th December, I traveled from Cambridge to Bangor in north-west Wales. Those of you whom will remember my post from last year will know I make this annual migration in order…

Immersed In The World Of The Crocodile

This May from the 22nd to the 28th, I was extremely fortunate to have attended, all thanks to Professor Downs, the IUCN Crocodile Specialist Group (CSG) 24th working meeting at Kruger National Park in South Africa. For me to attend such a event the term "kid in a candy-shop" comes to mind. There are in total…

Bel-Rea’s Top 25 Blogs

THW has been voted as one of Bel-Rea's Top 25 Reptile and Amphibian Bloggers of 2016! We are super thrilled and honored to be listed among such awesome reptile/amphibian blogs like Life Is Short, But Snakes Are Long, Living Alongside Wildlife, Advocates for Snake Preservation, Save the Salamanders, and Amphibian Survival Alliance. Bel-Rea Institute of Animal Technology is one of the…

Central Valley Herping

Over the last several months during my on going work project in the northern Central Valley (see Herps And Birds and Cali King) I've seen a lot of common herp species. Recently, my main job has been checking for and relocating valley gartersnakes (Thamnophis sirtalis fitchi) off the project area. These little cuties love our…

Sonoma County Herping

Earlier this month I had the pleasure (be it tired and long hours pleasure) of working in Sonoma County. The purpose of my job was to save any California red-legged frogs (CRLF, Rana draytonii) from potentially getting harmed during removal of equipment and supplies at a job site. If we saw a CRLF we were to…

Tracking Non-native Species With Citizen Science

In the UK, one of the most widespread non-native species of reptiles is the red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans). The species has been introduced to a number of countries outside of its North American range. In Europe this was fueled in the 90’s by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle craze. The species has no natural…

2016 Giant Gartersnake Symposium

Last week I got to attend a two day symposium on the giant gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas) in Elk Grove, California. The symposium was hosted by the Sacramento-Shasta Chapter of The Wildlife Society. This chapter is celebrating their 50th year! And they had fun merchandise, including giant gartersnake and California tiger salamander pints glasses, to celebrate.…