2013 must be the worst year ever for news

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   I think you make a good point, Kevin (and I'll check out your Spain thread now). If there's little apparent activity on the forum people will be dissuaded from posting. 
I started a thread on the grass snake forum hoping to get a discussion going about a population I have encountered this year in Hampshire. 

When I submitted my second post on the thread a message advised me "You are posting in a moderated forum", and warned that my post would have to be approved by a moderator before it was displayed. I'm not sure why someone flagged the thread for moderation (perhaps they thought I was going to name the site, which I certainly wasn't), but that post has been "pending approval" since 20 June. 

It doesn't seem as though anyone is activity administering this website.

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Conners Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 25 Jan 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 54	Post Options Post Reply Quote Conners Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 12 Jul 2013 at 10:34pm
	I think you make a good point, Kevin (and I'll check out your Spain thread now). If there's little apparent activity on the forum people will be dissuaded from posting. I started a thread on the grass snake forum hoping to get a discussion going about a population I have encountered this year in Hampshire. When I submitted my second post on the thread a message advised me "You are posting in a moderated forum", and warned that my post would have to be approved by a moderator before it was displayed. I'm not sure why someone flagged the thread for moderation (perhaps they thought I was going to name the site, which I certainly wasn't), but that post has been "pending approval" since 20 June. It doesn't seem as though anyone is activity administering this website.

Caleb Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 11 Apr 2011 Status: Offline Points: 660	Post Options Post Reply Quote Caleb Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 15 Jul 2013 at 1:59pm
	Is the stripy snake from a population that's known or suspected to have some foreign introductions? Apparently some stripy grass snakes in the UK have been found to be most closely related to Romanian animals, and stripy individuals supposedly never occur 'naturally' in western Europe at all.

Peter Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 17 Jan 2008 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 310	Post Options Post Reply Quote Peter Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 15 Jul 2013 at 2:36pm
	Here you go Agilis. Recently we surveyed a four year old pond in the Vale of Glamorgan. We netted by day in the pouring rain and found numerous palmates and a few smooths but no GCN. However I did find a single terrestrial animal in the surrounding woodland beneath some fallen bark. Below - the day shift... .
	BLF Dragonscapes Habitats officer Amphibian and Reptile Conservation e: peter.hill@arc-trust.org

Peter Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 17 Jan 2008 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 310	Post Options Post Reply Quote Peter Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 15 Jul 2013 at 2:40pm
	We decided to return the next evening and torch the pond for GCN. I am pleased to say that we lost count of the GCN at the site. We have given a rough estimate at population size to be around 200 GCN at this large, fish free pond. Below - night shift survey team, female GCN egg laying and male GCN and smooth newt compared.
	BLF Dragonscapes Habitats officer Amphibian and Reptile Conservation e: peter.hill@arc-trust.org

will Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1830	Post Options Post Reply Quote will Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 15 Jul 2013 at 3:06pm
	@Caleb - yes, I was wondering whether there were any 'dodgy' genes in the population which Tim photographed, but I have found slightly stripey ones myself - a photo of one which I have posted before, from Hertfordshire, and I have no reason to suspect that this particular population has had foreign animals put into it (but no proof the other way, either!) @Peter - great find, and goes to show that apart from egg searching even high numbers of GCN are often undetectable during the day in their breeding ponds. Interesting similarity in size between your adult male smooth newt and the GCN male - were they all smallish, or were the smooth newts giants?!

Peter Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 17 Jan 2008 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 310	Post Options Post Reply Quote Peter Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 15 Jul 2013 at 4:07pm
	Will, when originally netted, the male GCN didn`t look particularly small and the smooth didn`t look particularly large either. It must just be the camera angle but the smooth male does look huge in the image. We didn`t find any noticeable extremes of size range during the survey, one or two females were looking pretty big but we left them in the water to get on with egg laying.
	BLF Dragonscapes Habitats officer Amphibian and Reptile Conservation e: peter.hill@arc-trust.org

will Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1830	Post Options Post Reply Quote will Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 15 Jul 2013 at 5:01pm
	Thanks - maybe just foreshortening effect but a good optical illusion!

Iowarth Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Status: Offline Points: 743	Post Options Post Reply Quote Iowarth Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 15 Jul 2013 at 6:06pm
	Hi Conners The forum most certainly is actively moderated by at least three people. Sadly, there seems to be a software problem in that occasionally new posts are not displayed. Consequently the moderators are unaware of the post so it doesn't get moderated. Quite honestly, we would love to leave the forum fully open but due to the many attempted spam attacks we get this is not practicable. As a consequence ALL forums are moderated but once members are approved their posts no longer need to be approved. Once I have posted this I will set your status to approved. Regards Chris
	Chris Davis, Site Administrator Co-ordinator, Sand Lizard Captive Breeding Programme (RETIRED)

Conners Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 25 Jan 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 54	Post Options Post Reply Quote Conners Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 17 Jul 2013 at 10:51am
	Hi Chris, Thanks for your reply and for explaining that, and thank you for all your efforts maintaining herpetofauna - it's one of the most intelligent and interesting herp sites on the web.