2005 - Whitby Naturalists

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THE REPTILES AND AMPHIBIA RECORDERS REPORT INTRODUCTION. This is my first report and I have much to [eam' I volunteered for the job towards the e1d o{ 7004 for three reasons' Firstly, I have always liked crecpy crawlies ald slithery animals and it seemed a good opportunity to leam more about them' Secondly, there are very few native British species of either reptiles or amphibia (crnly six of each) so it strouldn't be roo difficuit to mug up r:n rhe subject. Thirdly, in 2004 I encounrered b,oth frogs and siclw worms in our own garcien, and saw common li.zarCs sunbathi.ng for rny first dme in Lngland. Thc lizards were ar Fen Bog in Norfol.k. One of the frogs rvas ,*i^*1r1g in our downstairs loo and was rescued just i1 time: I have no iilea how it got there! I have seen slow worms occasionally in the garden in the 26 ycars we have lived here. We usually spot them when we
undisturbed or unridy parts of the garden such as an r:ld-fashioned ssmpost heap or wood pilc. Skrw worms' prey includes smali slugs :rnd they do no damage to thc garden and are of course non-poison6us. I h:rve ireard tl-r:rt, as they are caten bv hedgehogs, You wiii not have both in your garden at tftc samc tiine. I wouid be glad if any one couid confirm or deny this. They are r:ften beautifully coloured, brown, copper or gold and very shiny. The young have iongitudinal dark srripes along the sides of their body, which femaies oftel keep into adulthood. I had the misfortune to injure a slow worill oncc with the iawn mower arid I felt a terriblc sensc of dcsclation to see its coiours and brightness fade as it diecl" The common of viviparous lizard (laccna viwipara) is widcsprcrd on the rnocrrs in our area but is iess likely to be for-rnd in girrdens' They are srnali (only about 6 inches or less) and vely secretive as well as fast' so rhat often only one pefson of the party on a waik will catch a fleeting giimpse. Their colour and pattern is variable. Most animatrs are basicallv brown but occasional individuals arc yellclw or greenish or black. The young are always dark brown. C)ccasionally people mistake a newt in its dry phase for a common lizard btrt, so long as you are carcfui of that mistake, if you report "a ltzard" (unless it is a young escaped crocodile) I wiil log it as iaccrta vivipara. The adder (viperaberus) is kn6wn ro inhabit the moors and I think we are priviieged to havc it. I will not describe it as it is so weil kno"rryt exccpt to say that wiriie the textbooks say it is up toZ feet long most of the oncs I have seen are srnaller than that. 'fhey yery rarely come into gardens and although they are poisonous they seldom bite humans. The grass snake (nrttrix ntttrix) is the only other native snake but it is said to be rare norlh of the Midlands" I have never seen one in the wild. It is larger than the addcr (dependlng on age of course) and spenrJs rnost of its time in or around water. it is not poisonous and its favourite prcy specics are frcrgs and toads. It is very fast moving and you are ZO
Page 1 and 2: Whitby I{aturalists' Club @-btthy s
Page 3 and 4: President Vice President Chairman V
Page 5 and 6: THE CHAIRMAN'S REPORT I find it ver
Page 7 and 8: The Annual Report relies on the rec
Page 9 and 10: 2404 Ocrober 9d October i6'l' Octob
Page 11 and 12: SUMMER PROGRAMME 2OO5 Malr /'h Full
Page 13 and 14: THE COACH ORGANISER'S REPORT The su
Page 15 and 16: we could see out to sea, whcrc some
Page 17 and 18: WHITBY NATURALISTS' CLUB INCOME ACC
Page 19: THE TREASURERS REPORT As rhis is my
Page 23 and 24: GENERAL INFORMATION ON AMPHIBIA' On
Page 25 and 26: In late August during an evening of
Page 27 and 28: THE GEOLOGICAL RECORDER'S REPORT No
Page 29 and 30: Preparations for a successful relca
Page 31 and 32: FIELD VOIE (Microtus dgresris) one
Page 33 and 34: Mavis Rei-rdman took the club to 6n
Page 35 and 36: n \< Xio 6-l -o
Page 37 and 38: Dryad's Saddle fungus - polyporus s
Page 39 and 40: THE BOTANICAL RECORDER'S REPORT Spr
Page 41 and 42: ENTOMOLOGY RECORDER'S REPORT This y
Page 43 and 44: It rnay be illustrated in this repo
Page 45 and 46: BEETLES Early this year I had a few
Page 47 and 48: from June 5.h some slimy black larv
Page 49 and 50: ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORDERS R'EPORT So
Page 51 and 52: o l8th May, Bullfinches at Upper Es
Page 53 and 54: Nightjar Our evening visit to Harwo
Page 55 and 56: magically calmed the weather and th
Page 57 and 58: The researchers fear that ecosystem
Page 59 and 60: which so many sea bird coionies rel
Page 61 and 62: It is not crften possible to meet u
Page 63 and 64: ASCS|ltYCCr'FtA HEMIASCOMYCETES Tap
Page 65 and 66: I COb{I}LG ATTRACTIONS ANNUAL LLINC

2005 - Whitby Naturalists

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